


The Criminal Eater

by JeagerTheBeast



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Criminal Eater, Blood and Gore, Blood and Guts, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, Eddie and Richie both have a degree of depression, Eddie is a cop, F/M, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of it, M/M, Multi, No Smut, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Oh yes and did I mention there will be Vore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Richie is a cannibal, Richie is babey but can be feral, Soft Richie Tozier, Soft Vore, Vore, all bad guys are named randomly, also Eddie has a phobia of being eaten alive, don't worry he only fatally eats bad guys, eddie is insecure, graphic gore, literaly, slight slowburn, tummy cuddles, yes this fic is a bit fucked up, yummy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:15:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 46,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27860629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeagerTheBeast/pseuds/JeagerTheBeast
Summary: FAIR WARNING:THIS STORY INCLUDES VORE IN LATER CHAPTERS AND IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SEXUAL A T  A L LAND IF YOU SEE IT AS SUCH...LEAVE. I DO NOT WANT YOU HERE.Richie is The Criminal Eater and Eddie is Derry's small-town cop/detectiveRichie eats all of Eddie's cases before he can get there to arrest them, but when Eddie does arrive at the scene the most he finds left of the criminals is an arm or a leg, maybe a hand. But this time its different...
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 56
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> mentions of: a pedophile(a criminal that's on a very gory lunch menu), murder, cannibalism, guns, gore, fearful situations. 
> 
> WARNING:  
> THIS STORY INCLUDES VORE IN LATER CHAPTERS AND IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SEXUAL A T A L L  
> AND IF YOU SEE IT AS SUCH...LEAVE. I DO NOT WANT YOU HERE.

Richie Tozier sighed tiredly as he drove down another unfamiliar road. Another day, another target. The average work for him. According to what he'd gathered, his target this time was known to be a pedophile. He gagged. Gross... at least the guy wouldn't taste as gross, that was for sure.

Meanwhile, Private Detective Eddie Kaspbrak quickly raced to his next case, hoping he could get there before The Criminal Eater did. Because he knew that if he came back to the station with just another arm or leg saying that there is a man-eater in the town. Everyone would just call him crazy again. Plus he really didn't want to deal with the blood and gore of The Criminal Eater's meal tonight. Because he had already had a bad day.

When Richie finally showed up to the old shack, he shuddered. The place felt eerie and off... it was uncomfortably silent. There weren't any birds or crickets, just a heavy silence and the rustling of wind in the trees. Seems that even the animals knew that the person living here was evil. Sighing, he climbed out of his car, and started scouting out the area, trying to make sure he wouldn't get snuck up on.

Eddie was almost to the case, Jerry waters, a pedophile's house. He was really determined to get this son of a bitch before the man-eating Criminal Eater does. Because he really didn't want to come back to the precinct empty handed this time. Mainly because he thinks that everyone will just keep making there cruel jokes about him or he'll get bullied by his boss.

Richie finished looking around, finally concluding that the man was inside, and that there was only one entrance. Good, he'd have him cornered then. Just as he was about to go in, however, he heard the sound of tires crunching on gravel. Shit. Someone else was here. Quickly, he ducked into the trees behind the house. He wouldn't have enough time to hide his car, but whoever was coming would hopefully just assume the car belonged to Jerry.

Eddie pulled up at his case's house. Seeing that there was already a car in the driveway. So Eddie took that as a sign that Jerry was indeed home. It was weird though, because that was definitely not the car described in the case description. But that didn't matter because he needs to catch this bastard now. Because if he doesn't, The Criminal Eater might show up and eat him and his cases. And that was the last thing he wanted.

Richie peeked out from behind the tree, huffing once he realized it was a cop. Great, there goes his lunch. He patiently watches from his hiding spot as the cop walks up to the shack, and he sighs, knowing that Jerry was probably going to get arrested. His stomach gurgled at the loss, making him wince.

Eddie slowly walks up to the door. Being severely careful because he had no weapons on him because he didn't like the idea of shooting someone. So he started up the criminal's porch. But not before he heard the telltale sound of a shotgun being pumped. This causes him to look up, only to see Jerry Waters smirking at him and coming forward towards Eddie. Making him back up off the porch with his hands up.

Richie watches from around the tree as the cop slowly backs off the porch, and he was confused at first, until he saw Jerry pointing a shotgun right at the poor guy. Shit. He knew he should step in and do something to help the man out, but he didn't want to reveal himself to a cop, as that would just get him caught.

Eddie continues to back off of the porch, ending up right at the wood line. Now Eddie was thinking with a fight or flight mindset- and he chose flight. So he dove off into the woods, starting to run as fast as possible. Hearing gunshots almost rapidly go off behind him. That made him just keep running.

Richie was startled when he saw the cop running-- straight towards his hiding place too. Hearing gunshots go off, he knew he had to do something. So, he allowed himself to grow bigger, eyes squeezing shut as he grew. Hearing the cops footsteps rapidly approaching, he stopped, and as soon as the man was about to run right by him, his hand shot out, and he yanked the man up, pulling him into his hiding place behind the large tree.

Eddie screams as he was grabbed and yanked into the trees by something large. Looking down at what had him, he sees five human fingers holding him. Suddenly Eddie looks up and sees a giant man's face, nearly causing him to scream again. But when he tried to, no sound came out, he was too afraid.

At that moment Richie held a finger to his lips, gesturing for the frightened man to be quiet. "Shh... I'm gonna hide you, okay? Just... trust me." He whispers, already hearing the faint sound of the criminal's footsteps coming closer. "I won't hurt you, just trust me. I don't have time to explain." He said, continuing to whisper so the cop doesn't get shot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VORE. IT IS SOFT VORE. BUT VORE NONETHELESS. 
> 
> Eddie gets saved by someone he doesn't expect to and he's perfectly hidden in a way he doesn't expect either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of: the bad guy again, Richie's graphic Criminal Eater ways, soft vore, hard vore and digestion(only mentioned not carried out in any way), Eddie's phobia, gore, fearplay, fearful situations.
> 
> Again, THIS STORY INCLUDES VORE AND IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SEXUAL A T A L L  
> AND IF YOU SEE IT AS SUCH...LEAVE. I DO NOT WANT YOU HERE.

"... W-what?..." Eddie says quietly and very confused. Because how is this giant man going to hide him. And how is it even possible, unless- but no, this couldn't be him. The Criminal Eater wouldn't not hurt him, he would kill Eddie right here and there, right? So Eddie nervously looks up at the giant man holding him, and hopes like hell that if this was the Criminal Eater, that he would spare him.

"Just-- hold still, and let me do this. I apologize in advance for this." Richie says, hearing the footsteps getting closer, and he took a deep breath, before quickly opening his mouth and shoving the cops upper half into his mouth, gently licking and prodding at the man with his tongue, trying to coat him in saliva so he'd go down easier. He had to be quick about this.

"...wait what- mmph!!!.." is all Eddie could get out before he was viciously shoved into the giant man's maw. He was now 100% sure that this was The Criminal Eater now. So that meant he was getting devoured by him and becoming his next meal. But all Eddie could do at this point was squirm and hope that The Criminal Eater makes it quick.

Richie was surprised at how sweet the man tasted, and he honestly wanted to pause and savor it, but he knew he had to get the man tucked away as soon as possible. So, tilting his head back, he swallowed, pulling the man's shoulders into his throat while his legs were still kicking on the outside of his mouth.

When The Criminal Eater swallows part of his top half Eddie starts to squirm around wildly. Because now his phobia of being eaten was at 11/10. So he was absolutely terrified and thinks he's about to die at the hands or mouth of The Criminal Eater. The man that just said to trust him was now eating him alive.

Richie gently prodded at the man with his tongue again, trying to get him to calm down. With another gentle but heavy gulp, more of the man was softly pulled further into his throat. However, just as he was about to swallow again, he noticed the criminal from earlier standing there, frozen with a horrified look on his face. Richie smirked. He could use this to his advantage. Swallowing once more, he made sure it was as loud as possible this time, so a loud glurk sounded from his throat as the last of the cops legs disappeared into him, his gullet eagerly pulling him in. And finally, once his mouth was free, he turned to the criminal and licked his lips with an evil smirk. Just as he'd planned, the man went running.

Eddie had stopped squirming and just started panicking as soon as all of him was swallowed up by The Criminal Eater. Because he now knew that he was done for and that he was slowly slipping down towards what will be his final resting place. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it except let it happen. So he braces himself for whatever horrible things were about to happen to him.

Richie watched as the criminal disappeared from sight, before finally feeling the cop spill down into his stomach. He felt him move around for a moment, before going completely still. "Hey... you alright? Sorry about that, I just had to get you hidden, or else you would've got shot..." Richie explains, gently pressing at the man inside.

Eddie was not alright, he was in the middle of heavily hyperventilating, already having curled up because the fleshy walls around him were squishing him. So he didn't even bother to answer The Criminal Eater's question. Because he was definitely not alright and honestly he would have rather been shot than die like this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie thinks that he's officially done for, but Richie just wanted to help a guy in need.
> 
> ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VORE. IT IS SOFT VORE. BUT VORE NONETHELESS.
> 
> !now with art from yours truly!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of: digestion(doesn't happen), Eddie's phobia, gore, fearful situations.

Richie now could feel the man starting to freak out, and he softly rubbed at him from the outside. "Shhh, shh, it's okay, just breathe... you're safe now, okay?" Richie murmurs, trying to calm the poor guy down. He'd just been shot at and then eaten, for fucks sake. The man was probably terrified.

"... N-no... I'm... n-not..." Eddie whispers out. Quickly moving away from where the Criminal Eater was rubbing at him through the stomach flesh from. Because why was the giant man acting so nice if he ate him alive and was going to digest him.

"No no, it's okay, I promise... I won't hurt you, alright? You're safe now, okay?" Richie says, trying to comfort the cop that was very obviously shaking. He honestly felt bad for eating him, but he did what he had to do. At least he was safe.

".... but I'm... n-not safe... I'm going to d-die..." Eddie whispers out. Now crying at this point, because now The Criminal Eater was just flat out lying to him. As the man's organs squish and groan around Eddie. Preparing to get painfully rid of him for good. Now Eddie was regretting even coming out to arrest his case.

"No no, shhh.... it's okay. You're not gonna die, I promise... just relax, okay? You're perfectly safe..." Richie murmurs, trying his best to comfort the man. Gently pressing at him from the outside, he softly rubbed small circles over where he could feel the man's back, hoping it would show he had no ill intent.

".... N-no... I'm not.... you're...The Criminal Eater....so.. you're gonna kill me..." Eddie whispers out. Trying his best to stay away from the rubbing that the giant man was doing outside of the stomach flesh. But it was impossible. Mainly because of how all of the squishy walls around him were hugging him. So all he could do was stay curled up and let whatever happens, happen.

"What? No no no, i don't-- i don't kill cops. You're fine, trust me. You're completely safe, I promise." Richie says softly, understanding why the cop was scared of him, but he wanted to make his intentions clear since he truly meant no harm.

"...b-but you're a man-eater....and you ate....me.... s-so I can't be safe..." Eddie says quietly, already in tears. Because his phobia was at 200%. So his mind was telling him that something bad was going to happen and was going to die. So he still doesn't know what The Criminal Eater meant by he was completely safe. He was in a stomach. They're not safe.

"....Alright, fine. Yes, I'm a man-eater. Yes, I eat people. But... I can't digest living things, okay? That's why I tear criminals apart. So, as I said, you're completely safe. Just... take a few deep breaths, and relax...." Richie murmurs, continuing to gently knead and rub at his stomach, hoping to calm the man inside.

"....W-what-?...." Eddie says softly and confused. But also a little scared, because the giant man seemed to be highly annoyed with Eddie. Especially since The Criminal Eater had to explain how his organs wouldn't hurt him. So Eddie just stopped talking, not wanting to upset the man anymore.

"You heard me. You're perfectly fine... I promise. I just had to hide you as soon as possible, or else that fuckwad would've shot you..." Richie says, sighing a little. He was actually upset that the man had gotten away, but Richie knew he'd be able to track him down later.

".... I'm... sorry...." Eddie says quietly. Feeling bad that his dumb ass is the reason that the criminal got away from The Criminal Eater. Because the man didn't have to save him. He could have let the criminal do him in and have more food.

"...what for...?" Richie asks in confusion, unsure why the man was apologizing, since he clearly hadn't done anything wrong. He gently continued to rub at his stomach as he waited for a response, not wanting the man to feel like he was being pressured to answer.

"... for.... making you lose your meal..." Eddie says softly. Knowing that The Criminal Eater probably saw him as a meal too. So he may not have lost anything. But Eddie still felt bad for being in the way. Like he always was

"Nah, it's fine. I should be able to track him back down later, so I wouldn't worry about it." Richie says, not really being too worried about losing a meal this once, since Derry was filled with other criminals that were just as edible.

"....but I got in your way...." Eddie states. Thinking surely the Criminal Eater wouldn't want a nuisance like him around town. Always trying to bring in the criminals that are the giant man's food source. Surely he wants to get rid of Eddie and never have to worry about losing a meal again.

"So? There's plenty of other criminals y'know... and it's not like I'm starving to death." Richie says, nonchalantly shrugging. Losing a meal wasn't really a huge deal to him, even if he was a tad bit upset about it.

"....That's because I'm in here...." Eddie says quietly to himself. Not thinking that The Criminal Eater could hear him. Also not wanting the man to hear him either. Because Eddie still didn't want to annoy him more than he already was. Because he knew everyone had a limit. And he did not want to find out what The Criminal Eater's was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie finds out all bit more about The Criminal Eater, mostly that he isn't that bad.
> 
> ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VORE. IT IS SOFT VORE. BUT VORE NONETHELESS.
> 
> Anyone is free to leave kudos and comments, I actually fully expect clown town to rip me apart bc of this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of: Vore, fearful situations, awkwardness on both Richie and Eddie's part

"That's not what I meant, y'know." Richie says with a small chuckle. "Seriously, Derry is full of criminals, so I sorta have an unending food source. You'd be surprised how much money it saves you." He says, trying to joke a little to lighten the mood.

"...or how much it saves my life..." Eddie says to himself once again. Really hoping that The Criminal Eater couldn't hear him this time. Because he really didn't want to keep embarrassing himself or annoying the man that literally has Eddie in his gut.

Richie chuckles again at that, but he didn't say anything, not wanting to embarrass the man further. "Y'know... I never really caught your name... mind givin' it to me, cutie?" He jokes, trying to flirt a little in hopes of getting the cop to let his guard down. He could feel how tense he was against his insides.

Eddie shys away from The Criminal Eater's stomach walls as he chuckled again "....I-l'm not cute.... but my name is... it's Eddie... Eddie Kaspbrak...." Eddie hesitantly says in a quiet tone. Still keeping his guard up. Expecting The Criminal Eater to turn on him if he said the wrong thing. Because this man seemed like he had a flip-floppy temper. Especially since he had literally eaten Eddie. So he was really trying to keep in line and not upset the man.

"Nice to meet ya Eds, I'm Richie. Richie Tozier. Y'know, your local dumbass wanna-be comedian." Richie says with a lighthearted tone. "And yes, you are cute." He adds after a moment, gently poking at the man-- no, Eddie --through his flesh.

Eddie once again shys away from The Cri- Richie's touch through the squishiness surrounding him. Because he was still very much frightened by where he currently was. But he tries his best to stay calm, hesitantly saying again "... I- I'm not cute....never have been..." Before going severely quiet and still again

"Are you kidding? You're so short and cute, you're like a little kitten!!" Richie says, pushing the compliment, but pausing a little when he felt Eddie pull away from his touch. "Uh-- oh, shit, sorry-- I should probably get you out now..." He mumbles awkwardly, slightly embarrassed that he'd kept him inside longer than intended.

"... c-can you please do so..." Eddie says softly. Still terrified of the organ around him. So he mentally braces himself for whatever Richie was about to do. Because he already knew that it wasn't going to be nice. Especially if getting gulped down wasn't nice.

"Alright, but, uh... You're gonna need to hold still and relax, because, uh, it's kinda hard to cough someone up when they're moving or stiff..." Richie explains awkwardly, gently pressing at his belly again as a form of silent apology.

".... o-okay...." Eddie says softly. Now going almost completely limp. Feeling as Richie presses at him again. Then he saw all of the squishy walls around him cave in and squeeze him towards the top of the stomach.

Richie huffed in slight discomfort as his insides worked in reverse, slowly pulling Eddie back up into his throat, the warm muscles of his gullet not really seeming to want to let go. In all honesty, he would have rather kept him inside, but if the man wanted out, he'd respect his decision.

Eddie stays motionless as he's pulled up Richie's throat and back into his mouth. Staying still even though he was now laying on the spongy tongue of the giant man. Because he didn't want to risk getting his arms or legs bit off. So he just chose to stay limp.

Richie then gently pulled Eddie out of his mouth, before cupping his hand around him as he attempted to try and clean some of the slime off with the corner of his shirt. "Sorry about that..." He says with a small nervous chuckle, trying to be polite.  
"... i-it's fine...." Eddie says quietly, curling back up again. Mainly because he was in a very vulnerable position. But also because of the drastic temperature change. So he was both scared and cold. Though he really didn't want Richie to know that.

Richie then carefully curled his fingers around Eddie, gently lowering his hand down to the ground so Eddie could climb off. "Better?" He asks awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand.

"...y-yeah...." Eddie says softly. Looking up at Richie with a small smile. Though he was still not used to being this close to the literal Criminal Eater. Not sure if the man was completely friendly or not. But Eddie was going to try to relax and make friends with the giant man.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie my or my not have become besties with The Criminal Eater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of: size shifting, mentions of Richie's past meals, Richie's pining dumbass.
> 
> Anyone is free to leave kudos and comments :)

"I should, uh, probably get back to normal size now, yeah?" Richie says with a small laugh, knowing he had to be pretty intimidating at his current size. He didn't want the little guy to be scared of him, after all.

"... you can do that?..." Eddie asks curiously. Not thinking that Richie was any other size than giant. But Eddie wouldn't be surprised with any new tricks up his sleeve. He's The Criminal Eater for fucks sake.

"Uh... yeah?" Richie says awkwardly, shrugging a little. "I'm honoured that you thought I was the giant from 'Jack and the beanstalk', but unfortunately I'm not." He jokes lightheartedly, gently poking at Eddie's chest with his thumb.

Eddie actually laughs at that, saying "...well there's not much left of my cases...so that gave me room to assume..." Because honestly Richie seemed to be quite a funny guy. Even if he was a man-eater and just spit him out.

"Pfffft-- did you think I was a chupacabra or something? Because if I was that would've been pretty cool." Richie laughs out, glad that Eddie didn't seem to be as scared of him anymore. He never liked scaring innocents, it just made him feel bad. 

"....I mean yeah...I guess I did..." Eddie admits softly. Hoping that this new revelation wouldn't offend Richie. But it was the truth. Because The Criminal Eater was Derry's urban legend. So Richie really was like the chupacabra or something- but like better.

"Bleh, bleh!! I want to eat yah soul!!" Richie jokes, putting his hands up in a claw-like gesture, chuckling all the while. "Oh my god, is-is there a curfew in town because of me? Because if there is, there's probably a lot of kids who would rip me apart if they knew who I was." Richie says, laughing.

"....oh my God...." Eddie says, laughing. Because he got all of the references that Richie just made. Which honestly made him become more relaxed around the man. Because he wasn't that bad. Even if he did devour bad guys.

Richie smiles at Eddie's laughter, glad his humor was being put to good use. Finally, he sighed, and started to shrink back down to his normal height. However, he was still taller than Eddie, which he found adorable.

Eddie watched in awe as Richie shrunk down to what he assumed was the man's normal height. Which was still pretty big. So Eddie still had to look up at him. But Eddie thinks he's starting to get used to it by now.

"So, pipsqueak... what now? Do we just... part ways, I guess?" Richie says, shrugging, completely at a loss of where to go from here. He never actually had a genuine conversation with the people he'd safely ate, and he was kind of starting to like this one. He was pretty cute, after all.

".... that's up to you...." Eddie says softly. Obviously knowing that The Criminal Eater wouldn't want to keep a cop around. So it was no surprise to him that Richie wanted him to skedaddle after spitting him up. Which makes sense because no one really likes Eddie anyways.

"Well, uh... can I get your number?" Richie asks awkwardly, giving Eddie a nervous grin, hoping he didn't come across as rude. "I-if not that's okay too, I-- uh, sorry--" He stutters, fumbling with his words and flushing a light shade of pink in embarrassment.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie finds out something interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: surprisingly nothing other than Richie and Eddie's awkwardness

"...o-oh...uh...sure..." Eddie says softly. Taking out a small notebook and writing down his number. Then he gives it to Richie with a small smile. Not wanting to embarrass the man further.

Richie smiles as well, taking the paper from Eddie, and tucking it in his pocket. "Text ya later tonight?" He says nervously, hoping that Eddie would still be up by then, since it was already getting late. His anxiety was already starting to get the better of him.

"... okay...." Eddie says softly. Especially after seeing how nervous Richie was. But that kind of made him cute. So he really was starting to become not scared of the man. Because he was really just a guy, like Eddie.(edited)

"Will you still, uh, be up at around ten-thirty...ish...?" Richie asks, as that's when he usually was up just scrolling through random stuff like social media on his phone. He usually seemed to pass out at around one in the morning... God, his sleeping schedule was fucked.

".... yeah...I usually stay up late to do my reports..." Eddie says happily. Glad that Richie was giving him a heads up what time he was going to text him. Even though it was going to be later tonight. But hey, it works.

"Alright, good! Well, not good I guess, that sounds boring as hell." Richie says with a small chuckle and an awkward grin. "Paperwork of any kind just sucks in my opinion." He adds, shrugging. He'd never liked paperwork, really. That was one of the main reasons he'd started doing stand-up at the local bars and pubs; there was never any paperwork, and on the occasion that there was, it was never very much.

"...It indeed does... but I'll live through it... maybe...." Eddie says jokingly. Trying to humor Richie as he did to him. Because he really did seem like a sweet guy once you look past the whole Criminal Eater thing. So maybe they might end up being friends.

"Well, good luck trying not to die of boredom, dude. I'll talk to ya later." Richie says, cocking his head to the side with a grin and a small wink as he walked backwards towards his car. Of course, he made a show of suddenly tripping over a tree root, and falling backwards with a loud 'oof'.

Eddie actually laughs out loud at Richie's mishap. But he quickly cups a hand over his mouth, before uncovering it and squeaking out "..sorry...." Still not wanting to offend Richie. Especially not after getting his number and joking around with him.

"I'm okay!!" Richie laughs, standing back up, and brushing the dirt off of himself. "So, uh, yeah-- see ya later, cutie!" He says, attempting to tease him as he started to walk back to his car again, facing the right way this time instead of walking backwards.

Eddie blushes a bit, quietly saying "... see you later..." Also now starting to walk back to his car, get in, and watch as Richie drives off. Seeing him head down the same road towards his apartment. So Eddie starts off on that road too. Not suspecting anything else that 'oh he'll turn up the road'. But Richie doesn't.

Richie was a little confused at why Eddie seemed to be following him. Surely he'd have turned by now, right? Going pale slightly, he hopes it wasn't Eddie trying to find out where he lived to turn him in to the police station.

Eddie continues to calmly drive down the road to his apartment. Not at all following Richie, waiting for him to turn and go down another road. But no, he kept going down the same road. Suddenly pulling up to the same apartment complex that he lives in. So Eddie also pulls up. Hoping that Richie doesn't think he is being weird and following.

Richie was even more confused when Eddie pulled up to the same complex as him, since it didn't seem like he'd been trying to follow him. Did they actually live in the same apartment complex together?

Eddie got out of his car and locked it. Then he proceeded to walk to the complex's stairs, starting his journey up to his apartment. Still hoping that Richie didn't think that he was being weird or creepy. So he went ahead and unlocked and went into his living room. Taking off his police uniform, starting to relax, getting ready to stay up almost all night and do his reports. Plus he had the rest of the week off until Monday.

Richie was still somewhat caught off guard. Who knew he lived in the same building as a cop? Sighing, he headed up to his own apartment, flopping down onto his couch as soon as he was inside. This was gonna be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of Richie and Eddie's long night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: animal violence(discovery channel), intrusive gory thoughts?, Richie and Eddie's lives

Eddie started typing up his reports about 11:00 that night. Watching the discovery channel as he did so. Mainly because he just wanted to relax for the next two to three days. Especially after he was literally eaten alive by The Criminal Eater and lived somewhere in close proximity to the man. So yeah, he needed a 'moment' as some people would say.

Richie meanwhile sighed, rolling over on the couch, before finally pulling his phone out, as well as the paper with Eddie's number on it. He really hoped Eddie hadn't given him a fake number. He sent a simple text saying hi, and who he was, before setting his phone down and waiting for a response.

Eddie heard his phone ding from beside him on his bed. picking it up, he unlocked it with his four digit password. And on it was a simple but loud text saying: ' Hi :3 Eds! This is Richie! '. So Eddie kinda nervously responds back with: ' oh hey Richie '. Because for fucks sake, he literally has The Criminal Eater's number and was just casually texting him like the man isn't a known man-eater.

'So... wyd?' Is all Richie replies with, but after a small pause, he adds 'Bored out of my mind rn. Decided 2 text u.' Before putting his phone down again. Sighing again, he stretches out across his couch.

' Typing reports and watching TV ' Is all Eddie replies back. Because he really wasn't a text savvy person. But it looks like Richie wasn't either. So He set his phone down and continues to watch discovery channel lions eat a zebra. Heh it kinda reminds him of Richie a little even though he's never seen the man's killing in person.

'Cool, cool' Richie types, before deleting it instead of hitting send. 'So u live in the same building?' He types out instead, hitting send this time. He couldn't help but ask about it, since he was kinda curious. Eddie could just be visiting someone instead.

'....yea..I think so ' Eddie replies. Kinda wondering if that was going to be a problem for Richie. Since he was technically a cannibal and a murderer. So Eddie also adds: ' I can move out and be gone by Monday if you need me to... ' letting Richie know that if he didn't want a cop living by him, Eddie could leave.

'...I wasn't gonna ask u 2 leave??' Richie types, confused as to why Eddie would think that. 'I was gonna ask if i could come over since there's nothing 2 do here' He adds, still not exactly sure why Eddie immediately thought he would ask him to leave.

'oh sure' Eddie replies. Not really thinking that Richie was going to just let him come over. He thought Richie was going to leave the apartment complex as soon as possible. But that seems to not be the case. So then he texts: 'uh, what level and door number?' Wanting to know where to go and just how close to The Criminal Eater he was living.

'I was going 2 come over 2 u, but that works too.' Richie types with a small chuckle. 'top floor 306' he sends soon after, glad he'd be able to have some company tonight.

Eddie looks at the apartment level and door number like three times, making sure he was reading it correctly. Then he texts ' uh dude, that's literally three doors away from me ' Hoping that it wouldn't upset Richie or cost Eddie his life. Because that might be too close for Richie's comfort.

'Oh sweet!!' Richie texts back, glad that he actually had someone he was familiar with nearby. 'Should I order a pizza or smth? Or some other takeout' He then types, unsure what Eddie's preference was.

' pizza is fine ' Eddie replies quickly. But he was still a little unsure about Richie coming over. Because he had only known the man for like half a day. Though the guy did save his life and acted relatively harmless towards Eddie. So he couldn't be that bad.

'Alright. I'll be waiting ;)' Richie types, attempting to flirt a little. He knew it probably didn't come across properly, but he didn't really care. Eddie was honestly kinda cute, and Richie would die before he refused to flirt with him.

'ok' is all Eddie answers before he packs a small bag of snacks and his laptop. Then he heads the short distance down the hallway. Knocking on the door with the number that Richie had texted him, nervously standing outside of it. Waiting for Richie to answer and possibly bite his head off.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie admits something personal to Richie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Eddie's phobia, an unfulfillable promise, Vore(mentioned)

Richie shot up from the couch as soon as he heard the first knock, hurrying over to the door and flinging it open with a goofy grin. "Hey!!" He greets enthusiastically, stepping out of the way to welcome Eddie in. "Come on in, m'lady." He teases, chuckling a little as he did so.

Eddie jumps back when Richie, a man who kills and eats people, answers the door with the enthusiasm of a giant puppy. But he slowly but surely goes into Richie's apartment when he says he can. And looking around, it actually didn't look that bad. It was really just like any other apartment. So he relaxes a little bit and waits for Richie's instruction/next move. Because he didn't want to invade the man's space without permission. Especially since said man was the infamous Criminal Eater.

"What? Go ahead, just make yourself at home." Richie says, shrugging a little as she went back to the living room, flopping down on his couch again. "Seriously, do whatever, I don't really care."

"... o-okay..." Eddie says softly. Going to sit down on the couch in Richie's living room, setting his bag of stuff down as he did. Still trying his best not to seem invasive, even if Richie told him he could be. Because Eddie had manners and he was going to damn sure use them. So he says "... but I'm not just going to do whatever....it's your home..."

"Seriously dude?" Richie says, laughing. "You were literally inside me earlier today, I think we've sorta crossed the line of 'invading others space'." he says, still chuckling slightly. "Really, it's not that big of a deal to me."

"... o-oh uh alright..." Eddie says softly and a little surprised. Not thinking that Richie would bring up the fact that he had eaten Eddie not even a couple of hours ago. But he did. And seemed to be pretty proud that he did. Though that didn't matter because he wasn't being mean, just excited- like he actually enjoyed Eddie's company. Which was new, because no one likes Eddie's companionship.

Richie chuckles at Eddie's surprise, finding it kind of cute. However, he does somewhat pause when he realizes why he was surprised. "Oh, sorry. Too soon?" He asks awkwardly, hoping he didn't make Eddie uncomfortable by bringing it up again. He knew he'd scared the man pretty badly.

"....uh... not really...I.. just...I have a severe phobia of... being eaten..." Eddie admits softly. Wanting to go ahead and get it off his chest. Hoping that it doesn't make Richie feel bad for saving him. Even though Eddie was still afraid of him because he is The Criminal Eater.

"Oh..?." Richie says dumbly, deadpanning as he sort of processed that information. "Oh." He says again, now getting why Eddie had been terrified. Of course, anyone would've been scared to be eaten, but the poor dude had probably had it worse due to that kind of a phobia. "Shit, sorry-- I, uh, won't talk about it if you don't want me to..."

"... you can... I'm not going to stop you from being you...just please don't eat me again..." Eddie replies to Richie's concern. Not wanting Richie to have to pretend he's not who he is just because Eddie has a stupid phobia. Because that would just be wrong. So Eddie is just going to have to get used to him. Even if he is the feared and dangerous Criminal Eater.

"Well, okay yeah I won't. I promise. But I also don't wanna make you uncomfortable by talking about it is all..." Richie says awkwardly. He didn't like making others uncomfortable. It always made him feel somewhat guilty.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie learns something about Richie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Eddie's phobia, clowns(mentioned)

"... you won't make me uncomfortable.... just a little scared..." Eddie says honestly. Still not wanting Richie to feel like he has to pretend to be normal. Even if it scares Eddie. Because that would probably sick the personality out of Richie if he has to pretend to be something he isn't. And Eddie didn't want that for him.

"Oh-- that's even worse!!" Richie says, sounding slightly distressed as he pouts at him. "I don't wanna scare you either..." He mumbles, curling up on the couch slightly, with an expression that was the equivalent of an upset five year old.

".... you... don't?..." Eddie asks curiously. Almost laughing at the way Richie was pouting with his lip, like a child. Watching the man carefully as he curls up next to him. Because Eddie was still a little wary. But he was learning to trust him

"Well, no, of course not." Richie huffs, continuing to pout. "I mean-- I enjoy scaring bad guys and stuff, but you seem nice so I don't really wanna do that to you." He explains, shrugging a little.

"...it's okay if you do...as long as you don't do it on purpose..." Eddie says softly. Smiling a little bit at Richie's childish pouting. Because it was a bit cute, even if he was a dangerous man-eater. Right now he was really acting like a big man-child. And that made Eddie feel a small bit more comfortable around Richie. But it also let him get a good grasp of the larger man's personality.

"Hmpf.... fine." Richie mumbles, his nose scrunched up a little. "That still doesn't make it acceptable." He huffs, finally sitting up on the couch again, and pulling his knees into his chest.

".... I'm sorry... that I have..my phobia...." Eddie says quietly. Thinking now by the way Richie said 'that still doesn't make it acceptable' that he was actually upset or mad at him now. Had Eddie already fucked up a friendship with the one and only Criminal Eater. Probably, that seems to be all he ever does in life, is fuck up.

"No no, it's not your fault. There's nothing wrong with being afraid of things." Richie says, shrugging. "Honestly, no fear is invalid. I'm scared of clowns, so, uh, yeah..." He explains with an awkward shrug.

"....oh...um...I'm sorry..." Eddie says again softly. Apologizing on behalf of Richie, who literally eats murderers, being afraid of something that is supposed to be harmless and funny. But then again, everyone has a fear. So Eddie wasn't going to judge Richie's. Because that would be cruel and Eddie wasn't cruel.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault. They're just so freaky--" Richie says, cutting himself with a shudder and a fake gag. "Honestly though, being eaten has to be a lot scarier than a fucking clown. So, uh, sorry for having to make you live through that." He jokes weakly, partly apologizing.

".... it's okay... you saved my life..." Eddie says softly. Not wanting Richie to feel bad for eating him and scaring him, but saving him from being blown in half by a criminal's shotgun. So Eddie wasn't going to hold anything against Richie. Even if he did kill and eat people. Because he was really just an energetic sweetheart to Eddie so far.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie shows his insecurities, but he also finds something interesting in the fridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: death by gun shot(doesn't happen),deserving to be dead, a corpse's head, the 'special' fridge.
> 
> feel free to leave comments and kudos

"Well, I wasn't just gonna let you get your brains blown out... that would've been cruel." Richie mumbles, shrugging a little as he sits up a bit. "I'm glad I managed to save you, really. You're one of the good cops." He says with a small, easygoing smile.

"....You'll probably regret not letting me get my brains blown out....most people would...." Eddie says quietly staring at the floor. Still not understanding why Richie likes him or why he is so nice to him. Many people were not kind to him, only a select few even batted an eye at him. So many people would love for him to die and become permanent Criminal Eater food. Especially his ex wife.

"Nah, I don't think I will. You're honestly pretty nice." Richie counters with a small, easygoing smile. "Besides, I literally only eat criminals, and unless you've, like, murdered an innocent or something around that level of severity then you're fine." He explains, giving him a small shrug.

".... yeah I guess... but you'll still regret it... mainly because you lost two meals not letting it happen..." Eddie says quietly, refusing to look at Richie after saying that. Because the man can probably already tell that Eddie doesn't value himself. And that was probably just pissing Richie off.

"One." Richie corrects, looking over to him. "One meal." He says again, making sure his point got across. "It's not that big of a deal to me, really. Derry is packed with criminals. One getting away isn't that much of a loss when I'm literally surrounded by a buffet."

"....but it was.... and if my brains were blown out...I would have been the second meal..." Eddie, not really getting the point, says while still not looking at Richie. Just knowing that he crossed the line and made the man mad at him. He was probably about to be yelled at, kicked out, or mauled.

"God no, I wouldn't-- no, just... no." Richie fumbles, shaking his head. "I wouldn't ever do that to an innocent. You'd... you'd deserve to have a body to be buried. I'm not that cruel." He explains, looking at him meaningfully.

"...no.... not really..." Eddie says quietly. Referring to deserving to have a body to be buried. Because he really didn't think he did. Mainly because why was good food. Especially if it adds to the menu you already had.

"And what makes you say that?" Richie asks, head tilted to the side in a curious manner. "It's not like you murdered an innocent on purpose or anything... so I don't see the problem here."

"....no I didn't murder anyone..... but I'm not worth the effort of digging a hole and burying..." Eddie says quietly. Still not making eye contact with Richie. Because he was honestly kinda scared to. Especially with how the conversation was going. At this point Eddie kinda expects Richie to throw him out of his apartment.

Richie just sighs calmly, sitting there for a few more minutes, before finally getting up. "You wanna go back home, right?" Richie asks, "Because if you wanna go later I'm gonna have to go to the store first, I'm nearly out of food here." He says, but it wasn't entirely true, since he still had other food in his second fridge, but he didn't want to freak Eddie out again.

"...I can go later if it's more convenient for you...." Eddie replies, still not wanting to rush Richie, and also just wanting to relax, still kinda processing what happened last night.

"Alright then, I'm gonna go to the store real quick, do you wanna stay here?" Richie asks, offering for Eddie to come with him if he wanted, but he assumed Eddie would still need some time to process everything.

"...yea I guess..." Eddie answers, still wanting to relax then think about some things, also not wanting to get out and deal with crowds or people this early in the morning, so he was quite glad that Richie gave him the option to stay here and not go out.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes!" Richie says, grabbing his keys and heading out the door to his car, starting it up and driving off, leaving Eddie to do whatever in his apartment until he got back.

Eddie literally just sat in the same spot until Richie got back, not really having anything to do but still there and watch TV, he also did some processing of last night too, figuring that it was fucked up but okay at the same time, so it might as well be true and happen. So all in all, he was okay with it.

Richie finally pulled back into the driveway, quickly hopping out of his car with a few plastic bags in hand, and he walked inside, immediately going to the kitchen to put the groceries away.

Eddie goes into the kitchen and starts helping Richie put the groceries up, hoping he was putting everything in the right places. He picks up one of the cold items and walks towards one of the fridges, he kind of found it strange that Richie had two, opening it but going pale in color, because their was a fucking human head fucking staring at him when he did.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie is surprisingly calm after seeing a decapitated head in a fridge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: the head in the fridge, a criminal and their charges, Vore(mentioned)

Richie's eyes widen and he freezes, hoping Eddie wasn't going to freak out and be scared of him again, since he really didn't want to have to regain his trust all over again.

Eddie suddenly just inhaled and exhaled before closing the fridge whilst turning to Richie, saying in a deadpan voice " ...I really should have expected that...." then going to the normal fridge and putting the cold items up, resuming helping Richie put up his groceries.

Richie squints at him for a moment, before he relaxes and shrugs. "So that... doesn't bother you...?" He asks, slowly going back to putting things away.

"... dude...you literally just ate me earlier.....plus that was Julian Sampson he was a rapist...he deserved it..." Eddie stated, already knowing who the head in Richie's second fridge belonged to, because he was one of his cases that Richie nabbed before he arrived on the scene, so no it didn't bother him at all that the man ended up being a head in a cannibal's fridge.

"Hmm...fair enough." Richie says, shrugging again, finishing with the groceries, and he walks back to the living room, once again flopping down onto the couch, and he sprawls out across the cushions, slinging one of his legs over the back of the couch.

Eddie also went and sat back down on the couch, neatly sitting criss cross applesauce style, not wanting to seem too comfortable or intrusive to Richie as he was just recently reminded of what he did to people who he didn't like.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie relax for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Eddie's phobia, Richie's cannibalism, Richie eats a raw human liver.

Richie raises an eyebrow at Eddie sitting down next to him, but then he smirks mischievously, and he sticks his other foot in Eddie's face, laughing loudly as Eddie tries to push his leg away.

Eddie flails wildly trying to get Richie's leg off of him, hearing him laughing almost hysterically as he does so. After about five minutes Eddie was finally successful, dramatically throwing Richie's leg off, then looking over at him nervously.

"What, are my socks that ugly?" Richie asks jokingly, referring to the questionable neon pattern on his socks, hoping to ease Eddie's obvious nervousness a little.

"...wha???....oh uh.... nope." Eddie says quickly, knowing Richie was catching on to his nervousness, he hated how Richie could practically sense it. Like he didn't want to be scared or nervous and offend him, but no matter how hard he tried his cop instincts wouldn't let him relax or let his guard down, because at the end of the day no matter how playful/nice Richie acted, he was still dangerous.

"Hey, chill, if I was gonna hurt you I would've done it already...And I have no reason to either, you seem like a genuinely good person, unlike some of the other cops I've met." Richie says softly, laying his leg across Eddie's lap, but leaving it limp so Eddie could push him away if he wanted.

"...I'm sorry..I really am.... but even though you keep telling me that....I.. just can't shake the fear.... sorry...." Eddie admits, apologizing twice even though Richie told him he doesn't need to, but he just had let it out. And Eddie didn't move Richie's legs this time, finding them grounding.

"It's alright, you can take your time with that... I know it'll take a while for you to trust me completely, but, I honestly like having you around..." Richie admits honestly, giving Eddie a small smile.

".... really?...." Eddie asks, still curious if Richie really meant that he likes having him around. Because in truth, Eddie didn't think a lot of people liked having him to hang around, and he damn sure didn't expect The Criminal Eater to be one of them that did.

"Yeah Eds, you're pretty friendly, and... extremely calm compared to some of my other friends." Richie says, chuckling a little, before stretching out across the couch even more.

"...oh...uh..okay..." Eddie says, kinda surprised that Richie thought he was friendly, but then again they only just met last night, so Richie's opinion will probably change once or if they spend more time together, but Richie seemed to be happy right now and Eddie wasn't going to ruin that

Richie hums and stays like that for a while, relaxed and stretched out across the couch, before his stomach grumbles quietly, and he embarrassedly muffles it with a hand, hoping it didn't make Eddie nervous again.

Eddie heard Richie's stomach rumble, but really didn't want to pay attention, because Richie already assured him many times that he wouldn't eat him again, and there was also the fact that the man has a whole fridge full of dead criminal body parts, so he would be fine.

Once seeing that Eddie was still relaxed, Richie slowly gets up from the couch, wandering to the kitchen to grab some food, specifically from his other fridge. He wanders back into the living room with a raw liver in his hand, gnawing on it a little with the corner of his mouth as he flops back down on the couch next to Eddie, once again slinging his leg onto Eddie's lap, again.

Eddie just stares at Richie as he eats on a human liver. This is something that Eddie supposes he's gotta get used to so he might as well watch it happening, and honestly it wasn't that bad. Well, except for eating human flesh part.

Richie chews on the liver, not really taking a bite out of it yet, just quietly gnawing on it and savoring the taste. Finally biting into it and tearing off a chunk, he cringes a little at the meat being stringy, but it didn't bother him too much since in his opinion, food was food, so he continued eating it anyway.

Eddie kinda cringed a little when Richie took a bite out of the liver, especially upon hearing the sounds of teeth sinking into meat and the chewing, knowing Richie could have done that to him not even 24 hours ago. But still he continues looking, now taking more of a curious but still horrified mindset. Why did Richie eat people? Eh, he'd probably never be told or find out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie gains a ferocious ally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Richie's still eating the liver, cannibalism, Eddie's phobia and self deprecation.

Richie continues eating for a little bit longer before he finally notices Eddie's staring, and he turns his head to look at him, a small string of meat hanging from the corner of his mouth. "What is it...?" He asks, seeing that Eddie wasn't scared, he knew he had to be staring for a different reason, he just couldn't figure out what.

"...oh...uh.... nothing...it's ... nothing..." Eddie lies while looking away, not wanting to make Richie feel uncomfortable because he was staring, but it's not every day you witness someone eating a human liver.

"You sure? I don't wanna make you uncomfortable... I can go eat in the kitchen or something if it's bothering you." Richie offers, not wanting to make Eddie nervous or uncomfortable, and he tilts his head to the side a little.

"...oh...uh...I'm not uncomfortable... just still getting used to this..." Eddie replies, putting emphasis on 'this' while pointing at Richie's meal, he didn't want Richie to feel like he had to move away from him just because he was eating.

"Oh... Okay then..." Richie says, a little surprised, and he relaxes again, continuing to eat the liver hungrily, at this point not even caring that the meat was stringy, it tasted good.

Eddie tried not to stare like had been, but he kinda failed at that because like he said he's still trying to get used to it, mainly because he needs to if Richie is going to continue staying in Derry and eating his cases. So he watched as Richie ate the rest of the liver.

Since the liver had been in a jar of water, there wasn't a lot of blood left and it wasn't that messy, but there was still some blood left on his fingers, so he licks it off of his hands, not really minding Eddie's stare at this point.

Eddie made a grossed out face when Richie licked the blood off of his fingers and hands, nearly putting his whole hand in his mouth, but Eddie shrugged it off in a you do you sort of matter, not staring at Richie anymore.

Richie sighs, relaxing again, his stomach finally falling quiet. "So... I guess we're sort of... allies now, right?" Richie asks, not knowing if he could call their relationship 'friends', since they'd literally only known each other for about a day and a half.

"....I guess?...uh yeah..." Eddie says, also not knowing if he could call Richie a 'friend' yet either, not wanting to push boundaries too soon, but he was glad that Richie's stomach was quiet again and that he wasn't craving human flesh at the moment.

Richie nods, positioning himself so he was laying down on the couch, both of his legs dangling over the armrest of the couch, and his head was resting next to Eddie's leg, but not on him though, he didn't want to push into his personal space too much.

Eddie looked down at Richie curiously, wondering why he positioned himself like that, then he did something he thought would never do about a couple of hours ago, hoping like hell he wouldn't get his finger bit off, Eddie reached down and booped Richie's nose.

Richie's eyes widen at the action, and crosses his eyes to look at Eddie's finger, before he lets out a sudden sneeze that makes his entire body jolt from the force of it. He tried to glare at Eddie for it, but there was a small smile on his face anyway, and he eventually burst into laughter, unable to contain it for very long.

Eddie laughs too, having not expected that reaction out of Richie, a man who ate others, mainly because it made him look silly, so Eddie continued laughing till his side was hurting.

Richie continues laughing as well, only stopping once he is out of breath, and he looks up at Eddie, poking him directly in the forehead as payback for the nose boop.

Eddie was so caught up in laughing, that when Richie poked his forehead it surprised him causing him to let out a squeak and jump a little. He then looked down at Richie with a fake frown before smiling again.

Richie laughs at Eddie's reaction, and he smiles up at him. "God, we're both such dumbasses aren't we?" He says, chuckling a little at that.

"....yea...I guess... well I know I am..." Eddie says, being a little self deprecating, hoping that Richie didn't catch onto it, because he was still chuckling at the forehead poke


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie tests the waters of what he can and can't do around Richie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: self deprecation, cannibalism, name calling

"I'm the dumbass, not you... you're just a tiny little gremlin." Richie says, noticing Eddie's self-depreciation, and trying to lighten the mood but poking some fun at his height again.

"....oh...I'M the gremlin!.... What about you? YOU literally eat people!..." Eddie blurts out before really thinking, and when he realizes what he said he quickly looks down at Richie, now immediately back to that frightened and aware state like he was last and the first of the morning, where he watched Richie's each and every move, hoping he didn't become feral.

Richie pauses for a moment, before snickering and bursting into a fit of laughter again, nearly falling off the couch while doing so. "H-holy shit you're right!" Richie manages to stutter out, still laughing his ass off. "But you're the tiny one, so it's only fair for you to be a gremlin too!!" He adds, reaching up to poke Eddie's forehead again.

Now Eddie really didn't expect that! He thought Richie would be offended for calling him out like that. But no, Eddie guesses that Richie takes pride in his man-eating by the way he laughed about it and poked his forehead again, so Eddie assumes he was in the clear to just be himself around Richie, but then he responds to Richie's comment about his height "...Hey!!!...I am the height of an average human male...thank you very much!..."

Richie laughs even harder at Eddie's response, so much he was practically wheezing. "Th-that doesn't matter!! You're still tiny as hell!!! Y-your an itty-bitty little manlet!!" Richie manages to stutter out, before once again laughing so hard he was nearly crying.

Eddie was starting to get red in the face when Richie kept calling him small, tiny and short, mainly because he's had a lot of people mock and belittle him because of his height. So much so that he got mad every time someone mentioned it. But for some reason he just couldn't get angry at Richie's big goofy ass, even though he's not even known him for not even a day.

Richie manages to stop laughing, letting out a deep sigh, a huge grin on his face still. "Holy Shit... I haven't laughed that hard in ages..." Richie says, chuckling a little.

"....am I your source of entertainment now?...." Eddie asks curiously but also seriously, still hoping that he doesn't break Richie's good mood, because not a lot of people stay in a good mood when they're around him.

Richie chuckles, nodding a little. "Maybe, you're one of the few people who can stand me... usually people get annoyed and abandon me by now." He says, shrugging, before reaching up and flicking Eddie's ear.

"....yea..... same thing here..." Eddie says somberly while pointing to himself, frowning a little thinking of all of the people that left him because they said he was overly sensitive or too yappy, but he did playfully swat away Richie's hand when flicked his ear, still frowning as he did so.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie gets ready for another case, but with a twist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, Eddie's phobia.

Richie sighs, sitting up and stretching for a moment, before flopping down again, this time actually putting his head on Eddie's lap, using his legs like a pillow. "Just a couple of misfits then, eh?" He says, an eyebrow raised.

"...I guess so..." Eddie replies, looking down at Richie, who's head covers his entire lap. Eddie still wonders how in the hell Richie is so comfortable with him, especially since he's a cop and Richie is The Criminal Eater who was stopped from doing exactly what his name entails by him, but he guesses he might as well roll with it.

Richie smiles at him softly for a moment, before leaning his head onto Eddie's legs more, and relaxing. "So... what now?" He asks, not really knowing what Eddie wanted to do now, or whether he wanted to go home now or not since he figured he'd have to do a case report.

"....I guess we go to my car.... and prepare for another case..... which is another nasty one....." Eddie says letting out a sigh, dreading some of the big cases that his boss handed him in that small file, but Eddie guesses it could be worse, like Rich not being in Derry anymore kind of worse.

Richie pauses for a moment, before turning his head to look at Eddie. "...uh, can I come with you...?" He asks hopefully, hoping Eddie wouldn't mind if he made another meal out of this case. "No matter how nasty the person they are, they still taste good..." he adds, mumbling it a little out of caution, once again not wanting to make Eddie uncomfortable or nervous.

"... Actually I expected you to eat them...." Eddie admits, because he honestly thought Richie ate criminals whether he wanted him to or not, but Eddie was still a little grossed out at the thought of Richie eating human flesh, but he supposes he's just going to have to get over it or at least tolerate it.

Richie chuckles and shrugs. "I probably would've anyway, I just thought since we're working together now that I might as well ask, just to be polite." He says, in a slightly joking tone, and a small smile on his face.

"....Eh don't worry about asking....the answer is yes anyway..." Eddie says, basically giving Richie the green light to devour all of his cases, but he was glad that Richie at least tried to be polite about it though.

"Oh hell yeah, free food!" Richie exclaims, somewhat jokingly, and he pumps his fists in the air excitedly, giving Eddie a goofy smile.

Eddie chuckles at Richie's reaction to his go ahead, especially his goofy smile, already having somehow known that Richie would be hyped to be able to eat all of his cases.

Richie suddenly rolls off of the couch and Eddie's lap, flopping down onto the floor with a small thud, and he looks up at Eddie with the same goofy grin before rolling away, getting up, and tumbling down the hallway with a loud cackle


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie finds out about Richie's playful manner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Richie being annoying, cannibalism, how dangerous Richie is.

Eddie looks down the hallway with a face that says 'what the fuck have I gotten myself into', the fact that he's working with a hyperactive man-eater just now really starting to sink in. But it wasn't so bad, it was actually quite entertaining to have Richie around, so that was a plus.

Richie finally stood up at the end of the hallway, and waved at Eddie before walking into his room like nothing happened, and he grabbed his phone before jumping and flopping down onto his bed carelessly, the mattress springs making a loud scream from his weight.

Eddie still had a 'wtf' look on his face, but decided to walk down the hallway and peer into Richie's room, only to see Richie laying on his bed looking at his phone 'God some of the things he does almost make him look harmless' Eddie thought to himself while still staring at Richie.

Richie turns his head to look at him, and he smirks. "...Detective Kaspbrak... I've been expecting you..." he says in a snively tone and accent, placing the tips of his fingers together.

Eddie rolls his eyes then says "...oh don't you dare even start that shit..." in a joking but annoyed tone, staring at Richie with a deadpan face, but also trying to contain his laughter, because no matter how many people Richie has ate, he seems to be a funny guy.

"Oh? Start what, detective spaghetti sir?" Richie says, using the same voice as before, and he tilts his chin up, staring at Eddie with a smug smile.

"...oh...you daunting motherfucker..." Eddie says, still faking annoyance, pointing his finger at Richie in a scolding way, scowling at Richie's smug attitude.

"Oh? Daunting? We're using some awfully big words now aren't we? I think you're a tad too little for that to be in your vocabulary..." Richie says, continuing with the British and posh sounding accent, and once again poking a little fun at Eddie's height, his smirk growing wider at Eddie's reaction.

"....Oh fuck you!...I'm not small!!!..." Eddie exclaims loudly, proceeding to give Richie the middle finger, still deeply frowning at him, only slightly slightly annoyed with the short jokes.

"Oh really? I do believe you classify as 'tiny', and I do find it fitting, as you are rather adorable at your remarkably small height." Richie says, chuckling at Eddie flipping him the bird.

"....I'm not adorable....or tiny!..." Eddie says loudly, huffing dramatically at Richie's chuckling, still hating being teased about his height, but he knew Richie probably meant no harm by it, or at least he thinks he doesn't.

"Oh? But alas, you are!! A tiny creature to be loved and cherished by all... a little elf of the woods... you're a lovely little thing!" Richie teases, but genuinely meaning it as a compliment of sorts, and he smirks at Eddie again.

"...no I'm not, you asshole!!!..." Eddie screeches out, hoping he's not too loud, his face turning red again, a little more annoyed by Richie's teasing on his height, he was also not used to the other thing Richie said either. He wasn't sure if it was a compliment or just more teasing because of the way Richie was grinning.

"....no.. I'm not..." Eddie says quietly, kind of glad that Richie was using his normal voice again, he hesitantly goes to sit down next to Richie on the spot he patted, gently plopping down on the bed.

Richie sets his phone back down on the nightstand, and he rolls onto his side to look at Eddie. "...This has been the weirdest couple of days, hasn't it...?" Richie mentions, chuckling at the thought. He never thought he'd end up working with the cops. Well, A cop.

"...yep!... and I have a feeling that it's only going to get weirder...." Eddie states, looking at Richie assuming he was going to either confirm or deny his words, but Richie was right because never in a million years did Eddie think he would be sitting around watching The Criminal Eater being silly, especially when taking his deadly appetite into account.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie is hungry and Eddie is concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Eddie's insecurities, cannibalism, Richie's hunger, name calling.

Richie chuckles a little at that, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, probably... and to be honest, I look forward to it." He admits, shrugging a bit.

".... really?..." Eddie asks curiously, after seeing Richie nod and shrug, confirming his statement about it getting weirder from here on out.

"Yeah, it'll probably make my life a little more interesting, and maybe a little more fun too." Richie explains, smiling at him, before suddenly yawning, and then he stretches.

"...nah I'm too boring for that to happen….like you literally just yawned.." Eddie says jokingly but also serious, seeing as Richie yawned when he said that, Eddie still did not understand how Richie finds him interesting or entertaining.

"Are you kidding? No you're not, you're interesting, and nice to talk to." Richie states firmly, before patting the bed next to him again, gesturing for him to lay down.

Eddie slowly lays down before asking "...how the hell am I interesting?..." Curiously still wondering how Richie found him even remotely interesting, he was just a small town cop, Richie was way more amusing than he could ever be.

"Well... you're an angry gremlin, from what I've seen you're witty with your comebacks, you're friendly, and you somehow manage to put up with me..." Richie lists, but he trails off when he actually gets a good whiff of Eddie's scent. Fuck, he smelled good. His stomach gurgles much to his dismay, and he looks away, embarrassed. God, his voracious instincts suck sometimes. 

"... yeah...I guess..." Eddie says, noticing how Richie trailed off, but tensing when he hears Richie's stomach growl, although he relaxed when he saw how embarrassed Richie looked about the sounds his gut was emitting, so he decides to ignore it, reminding himself that he wasn't an item on Richie's menu.

Richie calms down and relaxes once he sees that Eddie wasn't bothered by his belly being noisy, and his stomach groans again, but he ignores it this time, seeing as Eddie wasn't worried about it either.

Eddie hears the noises from Richie's belly again, which must mean he's hungry, but Eddie also notices Richie's not getting up to eat. So Eddie guesses he's probably saving space for tonight's meal.

Richie closes his eyes, simply enjoying the calm and peaceful silence of the moment for a while, and he rolls onto his back again so he is facing upwards towards the ceiling. He takes a deep breath, inhaling more of Eddie's scent, and he sighs, finding it calming. He honestly smelled amazing, and it made Richie's mouth water, but he'd promised he wouldn't eat him, so he pushes the thought down.

Eddie hears Richie sigh, so he asks "...you okay man?..." Hearing Richie's stomach growl again, making Eddie wonder if Richie was too hungry to wait till tonight. If so,then why didn't he just go eat something from his 'special fridge'?

Richie turns to Eddie, slightly embarrassed. "Y-yeah I'm fine..." He sort of lied, he was fine, but Eddie smelled so good it was really starting to make him hungry, so he scooted away a little.

Eddie noticed how Richie scooted away from him. And now he was starting to act weird, his stomach kept rumbling louder, but it wasn't too loud at the moment, so what was wrong? Was he going feral? Was Eddie making him uncomfortable? Did Eddie need to leave his apartment or the apartment complex?

Richie cringes at his stomach growling again, and he places a hand over it in hopes of muffling the noise. "...Sorry..." He mumbles, not really sure what he was apologizing for since Eddie didn't seem fazed by it, but he didn't want to seem rude.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie gets hungrier as the time goes by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, Eddie's insecurities, detailed gore.

"...no it's fine...I can uh... leave if you want me to..." Eddie says softly not wanting to further embarrass Richie, because he really didn't care if his stomach was making noises, but if Richie did, was uncomfortable,and didn't want him there, he would go.

"Wh-? No no, you're fine, it's not you- well it is you but-! nevermind, just... please don't leave..." Richie says quickly, desperately not wanting to be alone now that he actually had someone to talk to, and having Eddie around made him the happiest he'd been in months.

"... o-okay..." Eddie says, caught a little off guard by the way Richie basically panicked when he brought up the option of him leaving, so he decided to stay, still hoping he wasn't making Richie uncomfortable noticing his stomach noises.

"So, uh... when are we going on that case...?" Richie asks, trying to change the topic to something easier for both of them to talk about. Besides, he was definitely hungry enough to eat an entire person.

"...uh... probably around 9 or 10 tonight..." Eddie answers, knowing Richie was probably still pretty excited to be able to go and gobble up his cases, which was valid in Eddie's eyes, especially since Richie was The Criminal Eater.

"Alright... good..." Richie says, licking his lips a little at the thought of being able to sink his teeth into someone's flesh, already imagining the taste of warm and fresh blood flooding his mouth, and his pupils dilate a little while his stomach rumbles even louder.

Eddie notices Richie lick his lips and his pupils dilating, not knowing if that was a good thing or not. But when he heard Richie's belly growl again he jumped a little before looking over to Richie.

Richie notices Eddie flinch, and he scoots over to the side of the bed a little more, not wanting to startle him. "Sorry..." he says, avoiding eye contact out of embarrassment for the way he was acting.

Eddie feels bad for jumping at the sound, so he scoots over to Richie "... stop moving away you big dummy..." Noticing how embarrassed Richie still was and not wanting him to be, because there was no reason for it. Stomachs make noises, it was normal.

Richie stiffens when Eddie moves closer, and now that he was right next to him, Eddie's scent was much stronger. "God, you smell good..." Richie blurts, mumbling it quietly, and turning red in the face once he realizes he'd said it out loud.

"... uhh... what?..." Eddie says confused, not really knowing why him moving closer caused Richie to say that he smelled good,and especially like that, it was kinda weird and out of character from what Eddie could tell, maybe Richie was going feral, meaning that Eddie would be on the menu, which horrified him.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie still struggles with his cravings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, gore, Vore, Richie's cravings.

"Sorry, it's nothing... Shit, I'm sorry, you just smell so fucking good..." Richie says cautiously, not wanting to scare Eddie, and he scoots all the way to the edge of the bed, one of his legs dangling off the side.

"... whaddya mean...like my body spray or?... also I thought I said to not move away?...." Eddie asks curiously, not being scared of Richie, not like he was last night, plus he wanted to get to the bottom of Richie's weird behavior.

Richie sighs, shaking his head. "No... you smell delicious..." he finally admits, having decided to stop beating around the bush and spit it out, and he immediately hopes Eddie isn't afraid of him because of it.

"...oh..." Eddie says quietly, surprised at Richie's answer. Well, not really, but also not really expecting to hear it upfront and out loud, but he wasn't going to be afraid no matter how much he wanted to. Especially since Richie flat out told and promised him he wouldn't eat him. "..um okay... thanks?.." Eddie replies wanting to get across that he really wasn't scared, but still getting used to Richie's behavior and habits, while also working on his phobia.

Richie slowly relaxes again, seeing that Eddie wasn't afraid of him, and he scoots closer again. "Fuck it." He mumbles, rolling over onto his side to face Eddie, and he buries his face into Eddie's shoulder, deeply inhaling Eddie's scent again with a blissful sigh. "What the hell... how do you smell so good..." he mumbles into the fabric of Eddie's shirt, and he moves his arm to lay it over Eddie's chest, moving slowly in case Eddie wanted to push him away.

"...maybe because you eat people like New Yorkers eat hotdogs...." Eddie says, just letting Richie act like the human equivalent of a house cat. Even though it was a little weird, Eddie didn't push him away, because it didn't bother him as long as Richie didn't decide to make a meal out of him, then Eddie would have a problem.

Richie chuckles into the side of Eddie's neck, and he practically drapes himself across him, sprawling his arms and legs all over him and nuzzling his face into the side of Eddie's neck. "Yeah, maybe that's it..." He says jokingly, rolling his eyes with a small smile.

"...my God.. you're like a giant house cat..." Eddie jokes softly, being sorta crushed under Richie's weight, squirming a little bit. Eddie was still a little unsure of Richie's closeness, because like he said earlier he's known Richie for not even a day and half of that time he's been eating human flesh. So going from cowering away from him to practically cuddling with him was a big change that was gonna take time to get used to.

"Am I really?" Richie asks, chuckling a little at the reference, and he yawns again, suddenly being pretty tired, especially now that he was so comfortable.

"....yep!..." Eddie exclaims, hearing Richie chuckling, then hearing him let out a big yawn, Eddie guesses he was still tired from staying up most of the night.

Richie relaxes on top of Eddie, smiling at Eddie's words, and he wraps himself around Eddie, enjoying the contact since not many people allowed him to be this close, especially not if they knew about his eating habits.

Eddie just laid still and let Richie just cuddle up on top of him, mainly because he didn't mind it but also because there was no way in hell Eddie could lift him off of himself (not that he wanted to), especially since Richie was way bigger and heavier than him.

Richie eventually begins to drift off, pulling Eddie closer to his chest, and he nuzzles his face down into Eddie's neck one last time before finally passing out, going completely limp while lying halfway on top of Eddie.

Eddie notices that Richie's asleep, now realizing his chance to move out from under the man is way past gone, so he just lays there staring at the ceiling, still thinking about the night and still wondering how in the hell it all ended up with Richie aka The Criminal Eater using him as a fucking pillow, but Eddie guesses it could've always ended up worse, who knows Richie could've actually wanted to eat him again, pfft wouldn't that be crazy.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie get ready for tonight's big case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, gore, cannibalism, Eddie's insecurities.

Richie finally wakes up a few hours later, and he rolls onto his back to stretch, and he blinks his eyes open, pausing when he realizes his glasses are missing. 'They must've fallen off while I was sleeping...' He thinks tiredly, stretching again, and huffing with his back pops.

Eddie looks over at Richie, cringing when he hears the bigger man's back pop, then he asks ".... Did you sleep well, big guy?...." actually kinda curious if he was a good pillow and if Richie actually slept good, hoping he wasn't too badly out of shape from his nap.

"Mhmm..." Richie hums, slowly sitting up and reaching his hand around the covers, searching for his glasses blindly. Once realizing he couldn't find them, he turns to Eddie's blurry outline with a sheepish smile. "Uh... help?" He says, gesturing to his face in reference to his glasses being missing.

"...uh...oh...okay..." Eddie says sitting up, then finding and picking up Richie's glasses. Turning to Richie he slowly slides them onto his face, receiving a goofy grin in return, one to which Eddie smiled back at.

"Thanks, Eds." Richie says, chuckling a little, before getting off the bed and slowly stumbling to the doorway, pausing for a moment though to see if Eddie was coming with him or not.

Eddie, seeing that Richie wanted him to follow him, gets up and walks behind him, guessing that they were going to his car then getting ready for the hassle that would be tonight's case.

"Are you ready to go?" Richie asks, pausing his search for his keys for a moment to see if Eddie was actually ready to leave yet, and he looks at him with his head tilted to the side.

"....uh... sure..." Eddie answers, get pulled out of his train of thought by the question, he was still trying to mentally prepare himself tonight, knowing the risks and also knowing he's probably going to have to witness Richie rip apart and devour a man.

"How many are we going after?" Richie asks, finally finding his keys and opening the door, holding the door open for Eddie to walk out first so he could lock the apartment behind them.

".... about three tonight...and like I said earlier... pretty nasty people..." Eddie says, shuddering at the thought of facing more than one criminal, but then he remembers that is going to be okay, he's going to have Richie with him as back up 'but only because he's in for the free food' Eddie thinks to himself frowning a little.

"Oof... well, I'm definitely gonna be full tonight..." Richie says, chuckling lightly, and he walks out to the car, hopping in the driver's side and waiting for Eddie to climb in as well.

"...yea..." Eddie says quietly, getting in Richie's car, his mind still lingering on the thought that Richie's just working with him for the free food and the free food only, that if he hadn't been okayed to munch on Eddie's cases that he would have packed up and left Eddie to eventually die.

"...Hey, Eds, you good...?" Richie asks softly, noticing the tone in Eddie's voice, and he pauses, looking Eddie over carefully with a concerned look on his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking or why he seemed bothered.

"..oh...uh..yea!...." Eddie lies, hoping that Richie couldn't see through it, but knowing how he seems to be able to read people's features and behavior, he probably could, so Eddie was probably gonna have to tell him what's on his mind anyways.

Richie sighs, seeing that Eddie was lying to him, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to pressure him or not, so he decides not to and starts the car, pulling out of the driveway. Now off to go catch Eddie's case.

Eddie only slightly glad that Richie didn't call him out for lying, because now that thought is going to eat at him (heh) forever if it's not confirmed or denied by Richie, but it is what it is, so he was going to try his best to act like it wasn't bothering him. But now he couldn't focus on that, he had a case to catch/watch Richie eat.

Richie drives down the road in silence, eventually pulling back up to a abandoned house, and stopping "So I'm just gonna follow your directions, right?" He asks, turning to Eddie, simply trying to figure out how they were doing this.

"... yeah..uh... sure...it's really however you want to go about it man..." Eddie says quietly, but still tries not to give away his change in mood. Eddie gets out and looks at the time and sees that it's almost seven o'clock, that means it's almost time for action, but Eddie was still not really looking forward to it.

Richie pauses at Eddie's tone, he really sounded bothered by something, but Richie decides to not bother with it for now. He had dinner to catch. He then sits and waits for Eddie to tell him the directions, since he had no idea where they were going.

Eddie gets in the car, letting Richie drive out of the abandoned house's driveway, starting to head to another place on the outskirts of Derry, where his next case, three nasty siblings who's names were William, Wilford, and Will lived, they were a gang notorious for violence, murderer and rape, so yeah it'd probably be best if Richie made a meal of them, but this time Eddie hopes to God that aren't armed or it probably be a repeat of last night.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie's case goes horribly wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: graphic gore, cannibalism, Eddie gets drugged and badly beat up.

Richie follows Eddie's directions on the road, eventually pulling up to an unfamiliar house in an area he'd only driven by once in his life. He climbs out of his car and sits on the hood, waiting for Eddie to get out as well, so he grabs a cigarette pack from his pocket and lights it, sighing at the familiar taste of the tobacco and nicotine.

Eddie gets out of the car. He sees Richie smoking, so he doesn't bother him and goes to search the place for the siblings. The first place he goes is the back yard, but doesn't see any signs of anyone. So he goes to go around the other side of the house, but when he does a hand suddenly covers his mouth muffling his startled scream and a knife is placed on his neck, with that an unknown voice says "...the others aren't going to be happy to see you..." It was practically Eddie's worst nightmare and he couldn't even scream, he hoped Richie was done smoking, but to Eddie's luck he probably wasn't and won't get there until it's too late.

Richie watches Eddie go around the side of the house, and he continues smoking, finally finishing it and flicking the butt of it off to the side, and stomping on it to put it out. He stays there for a little bit, waiting for Eddie to come back, but once he realizes Eddie was taking a little too long, he walks around the side of the house to look for him.

The man that covered his mouth and held him at knife point dragged him into a side door of the house, then proceeded to punch him onto the floor and kick while he was down before getting joined by two others. They kicked Eddie so hard that all could do was wheeze out, but not scream. After beating a bruising Eddie up pretty badly they tied him up with a rope and propped him up against a wall where all three siblings stared down and laughed whilst he started crying, wishing that he had just waited for Richie to get done smoking, but no he had to go be a fucking dumbass and now the siblings were probably about to kill him.

Seeing the door was open, Richie was sure Eddie wouldn't have gone into the house without him, so he cautiously walked over to it, quietly stepping inside. Seeing light at the end of the hallway, Richie hears laughter, but none of it sounded like it was coming from Eddie, so he continues tip-toeing down the hallway, eventually seeing the three men they'd come for... and Eddie beaten up and bloody against a wall. Richie immediately sees red, and he lunges at one of the men, roaring in rage, instantly clamping his jaws around their neck and ripping the man's throat out.

Eddie closes his eyes then slumps against the wall after hearing Richie roar and then seeing him rip out the sibling he had identified as Will's throat. Eddie keeps his eyes closed throughout the whole thing, but is still able to hear every rip, tear, and bone crunch along with Richie's sounds of feralness and hunger, assuming he was probably happy and got what he wanted.

Richie turns to the other two brothers that were now staring at him in horror, and he slowly stands up from what was left of Will's body, and he lets out a low and deep growl that eventually turned onto another angry roar, leaping at one of them and slamming the other one into the wall, knocking that one out, before digging into the first one, hungrily ripping and tearing into the flesh. Devouring most of their bodies

Eddie stays motionless still slumped against the wall, trying his best not to pass out from the pain, also still hearing Richie brutally devour the three siblings, Eddie truly does hope that they make a good meal for him, especially after beating him up so badly. After this Eddie thinks, Richie was probably just going to leave him here and go sleep off his meal at his home.

Richie slows down when eating the third sibling, feeling pretty full from the other two, but he didn't want to leave anything behind of them, they didn't deserve to have a body to be buried, not after they hurt Eddie. Finishing eating, he walks over to Eddie, crouching down next to him and scanning his injuries with worry. "Hey, Eds, you're still awake right?" He asks, gently placing a hand on Eddie's shoulder.

Eddie flinches when Richie touches his shoulder, mainly because it hurts but also because he didn't expect it, with that Eddie slowly opens his eyes, seeing a somber looking blood covered Richie, so he squeaks out a small "...yea..." As his vocal cords were strained for crying and being kicked. Although Eddie did wonder, why was Richie still sticking around? wasn't he finished with his meal.

Richie nods, "Okay, that's good, so don't-don't pass out on me, okay? Shit, can you walk? Fuck it, nevermind, hold still, I'm just gonna..." He trails off, moving to carefully pick Eddie up in his arms, and he lifts him up, carrying him bridal style

Eddie screams in pain as Richie picks him up, squirming around a bit not really liking being picked up and how bad he was hurt, but he guesses it could be worse, Richie could've left him or even worse than that, decided that he was too much trouble and made a meal out of him too, but Richie wouldn't do that, right?

"Shit, Eds, it's gonna be okay- no, you're gonna be okay, I promise..." Richie says, carrying Eddie out the door they came in, and he carefully brings him back to his car. Richie would have to take him back to his apartment, so he opens the car door, helping Eddie climb in, before rushing back around to the driver's side.

Eddie just starts crying again as he sat down in the car, not believing that it's going to be okay, he did this, he got himself hurt, why was Richie caring for him, he just a small part of Richie's dinner plans, and he would get better later.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit..." Richie swears over and over again, quickly pulling out of the driveway and speeding back to his apartment, and he reaches over then gently grasps Eddie's hand. "It's gonna be okay, I promise... we're gonna get back to my apartment, and we're gonna get you patched up, okay? You're gonna be fine..." Richie says in a surprisingly soft tone, wanting to calm Eddie down the best he could, and he rubs small circles over the back of Eddie's hand with his thumb, hoping to calm him down.

Eddie was still crying and having a complete and utter come apart, but Richie's soft voice tone and touches were kinda helping, but only a little. Eddie was still confused and wondering why Richie was caring for him, and his panicked state wasn't helping things.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie treats Eddie's wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, talk of death, Vore, digestion mention, self deprecation, Eddie's insecurities.

Richie finally pulls back into the apartment complex's driveway, and he quickly gets out of the car, rushing around to the passenger side, and once again lifting Eddie up to carry him inside, and he slams the apartment door open, setting Eddie down on the couch before disappearing into the bathroom to get the first-aid kit and some pain meds.

When Richie sets Eddie on the couch, it takes him every fiber of his being not to pass out, but to his own surprise he doesn't. He waits just carefully and patiently for Richie to get back from wherever he darted off to.

Richie eventually comes back, first-aid kit in hand, and he sits down on the edge of the couch. "Okay... do you think anything's broken?" He asks, pulling out some bandages to wrap some of the cuts on Eddie's arm.

"...no..." Eddie whispers out, so quiet it would be almost a miracle if Rich could hear him. He stays still and let's Richie bandage him, he really didn't have a choice but to stay still because that's how bad he was hurt.

Richie continues wrapping up the cuts, and he pauses for a moment, looking Eddie over again. "Okay, is there any more anywhere else?" He asks, wanting to know if he missed one so he could wrap any more Eddie might have. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do about the bruises, so he decided to leave them be, and he avoided touching them, not wanting to make Eddie's pain worse.

"...no..." Eddie replies, just as quiet as last time, glad that the bandaging process was over and that he probably wouldn't be a hassle for Richie to take care of anymore.

Richie gets up again, grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen, and he comes back, grabbing the pain pills from the coffee table. "Alright... this might make you either extremely tired or extremely high and loopy, but this should help with the pain." Richie murmurs softly, handing the glass of water to him, but pausing with the container of pills. "Only take one though, I made that mistake of taking two at once, and it really fucked me up... I was throwing up for a few days." He adds, before finally handing the pills over.

Eddie takes the medicine, getting surprisingly only a little sleepy, he was glad the pain went away a little bit. Well, for now it did, but he still couldn't move that much and that was annoying as hell, also Eddie was still wondering why Richie was hovering over him taking care of him, why didn't he just go ahead and sleep off the big meal he just had.

"Okay, uh, I'm gonna move you again, hang on..." Richie says, warning Eddie in advance this time, and he assumes his bed would be much more comfortable than the couch, so he gently lifts Eddie up again, and slowly carries him to his room, not wanting to move too quickly and risk hurting him more.

Eddie didn't expect Richie to move him to his bed again, he expected him to leave him alone out there on the couch, but he didn't. Eddie was still perplexed at how gently Richie was treating him, especially since it was still Eddie's fault that he got hurt so badly.

Gently setting Eddie down on the bed, Richie walks around to the other side and lays down next to him, and turns over onto his side to face him. "...There... is that better...?" He asks, hoping that Eddie was more comfortable now.

"... yes...." Eddie squeaks out, not thinking that Richie cared if he was comfortable or not, also Eddie was not expecting Richie to get into the bed with him either, because if his he was being honest his thought process reverted back to the way it was when he first met Richie and it was still running on the thought that he only doing this for the food.

Richie nods and relaxes into the bed, sighing tiredly from the adrenaline rush wearing off, but he jolts in surprise when his stomach suddenly cramps up, making him cringe in slight pain. "Oof... Okay, I definitely ate too much..." He mumbles to himself, holding his gut while it gurgles and rumbles unhappily, and he silently hopes he's not making Eddie uncomfortable with how loud his stomach is being.

"... sorry..." Eddie whispers out barely audible, hoping that Richie heard him. He did get scared by the stomach noises, but Eddie was too tired to flinch or try to get away, so just laid there shaking while his brain replayed tonight's events.

"No... it's not your fault, Eds..." Richie says quietly, not wanting Eddie to blame himself for it, and he huffs in slight pain when another small jolt of pain shoots through his stomach, and he continues gently rubbing his belly in an attempt to sooth it. "You really fucking scared me back there... I was so fucking worried you were gonna, like, die in my arms or something..." Richie admits quietly, wanting Eddie to know how much he genuinely cared about him.

"....But it is my fault...." Eddie says quietly ".... and wouldn't you've just eaten me too if I died...." Just kinda tiredly spilling his thoughts to Richie, even if they had this talk earlier. Hearing his belly gurgling and groaning next to him, wondering if he was right or not, still curious to how him almost dying scared Richie so much.

Richie's head whips around to look at Eddie, eyes wide. "What the fuck!? God no... you... you wouldn't deserve that, like i said, you'd deserve to have a body left to be buried..." He says, baffled that Eddie would still think that. "But these fuckers? They didn't deserve shit." He adds, poking his gut. "In all seriousness though, I'd... I'd never let you die like that, okay? You-you don't deserve that, and you especially don't deserve to just... digest. You're worth a lot more than that, unlike these scumbags." He says, patting his stomach again. "And really, it wasn't your fault."

"....sorry..." Eddie says nearly crying again at Richie's response to his self depreciation "... do you really think I'm worth anything?....." He asks, wanting to know if Richie really meant what he said in the little rant about him not deserving to just digest away if he had died.

"Yeah... you mean a lot to me... you're one of the few people who've stuck around me this long, even after finding out about my eating habits... and-and you're nice to me, you've never called me a monster or a freak, and I just-" Richie cuts off, tears welling up in his own eyes as well, and he takes his glasses off for a second to wipe them away. "I can't lose you, I just- I just can't." He chokes out, sniffling quietly. "You're one of the first people to-to accept me for who I am, and I don't mean just the eating-people thing, I mean, just, in general... normally people hate me for the way I act, and my personality... so I've worn a mask for so long, I've just been... hiding behind humor and jokes like a fucking coward..." He says, finally letting his emotions spill out, and tears spill from his eyes like waterfalls.

Eddie doesn't even know how to respond to Richie's emotional outpouring. So he shakily, in the middle of Richie's crying, reaches up and boops Richie's nose like he did like when he was the bravest and most comfortable around him. He wanted to make Richie feel better, he never wanted to make him cry or feel bad, so he vows to himself to try his best to never be afraid of Richie again.

Richie pauses and stops crying at the sudden nose boop, mainly from surprise, but a small smile forms on his face, and he takes his glasses off again to wipe away more tears before suddenly turning onto his side to hug Eddie. He made sure he wasn't hugging him too tightly, however, since he didn't want to accidentally bump one of Eddie's many bruises. "Thank you..." He mumbles quietly, pressing his face into Eddie's shoulder, letting Eddie's scent calm him down again.

"....you don't need to thank me...." Eddie says softly, unsure of what else to say, but leaning into the hug, glad that he could calm Richie down, making him smile and feel better. Although Eddie still felt like shit for making Richie cry "....sorry...I made you feel uncomfortable..."

"No... no, I needed to get that out..." Richie says, sighing, before jolting in surprise again when his stomach lets out a loud gurgle, interrupting what he was about to say next, so instead he just huffs in annoyance and rolls his eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie officially become friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, gore, Vore, insecurites, death.

Eddie chuckles a little bit at Richie's annoyance with his loud belly, wincing at the pain of laughing. But Eddie was also curious as to what Richie was going to say next before his gut rudely interrupted him.

"Anyway, as I was saying, before I was very rudely interrupted-" Richie starts, once again getting interrupted by his stomach growling and churning loudly, and he huffs in annoyance again, before going to continue. "As I was saying... thank you, for just... staying." He says, glad that Eddie had stuck around this long, and he smiles at him softly, before wincing at another small jolt of pain in his gut.

"...no problem...I'm just still surprised you want me to stay around.... not many people do..." Eddie says softly, watching as Richie jolts at his stomach being too active, hearing it gurgling again

"Just a couple of misfits then, huh?" Richie jokes, smiling softly, deciding to try and ignore how active his stomach was being, but failing miserably when he cringes at another small jolt of pain.

"....yea I guess..." Eddie says, silently chuckling at Richie's attempt at trying to ignore his very talkative stomach, but then Eddie asks that question that's been bothering all night "...so you're not just in it for the free food?..."

"What? No no no, well, that's one of the reasons, but.... I'm in it because I like having you around, it's easier for me to find criminals, and it's for the free food..." Richie says, chuckling, and then scowling as his stomach continues making noise.

"...so if I said no criminal eating...not that I would.... would you still stick around?...." Eddie asks curiously, hoping Richie doesn't get annoyed at his question like he was annoyed by his stomach sounds.

"...yeah... I'd try to find a way to live without eating people..." Richie admits, giving him a small shrug, and wincing in pain again at his stomach cramping up. "Damn... usually it's not this bad..." He mumbles to himself, rubbing at his belly again.

".... it's not???..." Eddie questions, experimentally poking at Richie's somewhat rounded gut, hoping it didn't upset or hurt Richie's gut further than it was.

Richie flinches in surprise at the sudden poke, but relaxes again when seeing Eddie was just curious, and he shakes his head. "No... I rarely get cramps anymore... and usually when I do, it's not this bad..." Richie says, before wincing again, his stomach gurgling and groaning unhappily.

"...oh... okay?..." Eddie says in somewhat confusion, still not familiar with some of Richie's behavior or habits. But frowns when he sees Richie wincing in pain again, hearing his belly acting up some more, Eddie hopes that the pain goes away and that he starts feeling better soon, because the meds Eddie took were starting to wear off and he was beginning to feel everything again, and he knew that meant that he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, he hopes him staying up wouldn't annoyed Richie.

Richie sighs tiredly, being slightly annoyed at his stomach acting up, and he continues rubbing at it in an attempt to calm it down, huffing in discomfort and pain when the cramps seem to worsen. "Fuck, ow..." He mumbles quietly, desperately wanting the pain to stop.

"... you sure you're going to be okay??..." Eddie asks, slightly concerned that Richie was wincing in pain every couple of minutes, which wasn't good, and Eddie hopes that it'll go away soon so Richie doesn't have to deal with him and a cramping stomach all night, but seems like that's going to be the case.

"Mmfh... I'm not gonna die, if that's what you're asking..." Richie says, joking slightly, and he flinches when he literally feels his stomach's contents shift and move inside, making him shudder at how weird it felt.

"... okay..." Eddie says softly, thinking he crossed Richie's comfort line from him worrying, and the uncomfortable weirded out face he was making only strengthened this thought, so he stops asking questions and talking for a bit, just sitting there silently trying to mind his own business, listening to Richie's stomach making noises.

"...remind me not to eat so much next time..." Richie says, chuckling a little, before rolling onto his back again, and cringing when he hears and feels his stomach slosh and groan from the action, the sudden motion making him let out a small burp, and he blushes in embarrassment.

"....I will if I don't get beat up or murdered...." Eddie says only half jokingly, chuckling at the little burp Richie let out when he laid on his back again. At this point Eddie could sorta hear the contents of Richie's sloshing around when he moved, which grossed him out a little but he didn't show it.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna let that happen." Richie says, chuckling a little as well, and he begins carefully rubbing at his gut again, not wanting to agitate it more, and he sighs in relief when his stomach finally settles down a little.

"... what?..." Eddie asks, not expecting that reply from Richie at all, he just expected a joke or a laugh, but not the seriousness. He also didn't expect Richie's stomach to calm down that fast, with it only making a few gurgles here and there, but that was a good thing.

"Hm?" Richie hums, not understanding what Eddie seemed to be confused about. "You heard me, and I mean it too." He says, shrugging, before going back to kneading at his stomach, not wanting it to start cramping up again.

"....but...how??..." Eddie asks, wanting to completely know what Richie means "....my cases are always going to try to hurt me... and sometimes they succeed..." He says almost nonchalantly watching Richie knead at his belly, like it was a normal thing, which it was. But Rich probably didn't know that and was just now finding out.

"Yeah, well... I'll try my damn hardest to make sure that doesn't happen again, okay?" Richie says honestly, turning his head to look at Eddie with a sincere and genuine look on his face, and he gives him a small smile.

"... okay........ sorry..." Eddie says softly, after Richie looked over at him and smiled, causing him to almost smile back. But he was still in a mood, even after all of Richie's powerful assurances that he wouldn't be hurt again and that he wasn't just a food source, and he didn't know why!

"Why are you apologizing...? I'm just saying, I'm not gonna let someone hurt you..." Richie says quietly, giving Eddie a confused look. His stomach was still being active and noisy, but it wasn't hurting or cramping now, so he was fine, except for the fact that it was being extremely loud.

".... it's just.... you shouldn't have to defend me..." Eddie says quietly ashamed of himself, looking down from Richie's confused face, he shouldn't have to burden Richie with protecting him in every case they face, Eddie now feels bad for even roping Richie into this deal/partnership.

"No, I don't have to... but I want to..." Richie says softly, removing a hand from his stomach to lift Eddie's head back up, gently tilting his chin upwards to look at him. "...I want to keep you safe, because you're all I have..." He murmurs, openly admitting that Eddie was really his only 'friend', or at least the only person he knew that was close to it.

".... you want to???..." Eddie says in confusion, blown away by the fact that Richie wants to protect him from all of the criminals that he faces or comes his way. It just baffled him that Richie, The Criminal Eater, wanted to keep Eddie, a cop, safe.

"Yeah... the only other 'friends' I really have is this group of guys I get drunk with once a month..." Richie admits, shrugging sadly. "I guess I just feel less... hollow... now that you're around..." He says quietly, crossing his legs idly.

".... you see me as a friend..." Eddie says kind of excited that Richie thought of him as a friend, even though they've only known each other for a day and a half, but then again they were basically snuggling, so it wasn't a far fetched thing say or think, plus having Richie's goofy ass as a friend would probably be the best thing in the world.

"...yeah..." Richie whispers, avoiding Eddie's gaze for a moment, before suddenly looking back up at him. "Is that okay...?" He asks, hoping it was alright for him to refer to Eddie as a friend, as he desperately wanted to.

"....yea....that's great!..." Eddie says excitedly, not knowing why Richie Richie was so shy about calling Eddie his friend. Because really, being friends with The Criminal Eater is badass, and he really didn't think Richie would call him anything other than an acquaintance or less, but now he's calling Eddie a friend and vowing to protect him.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so, Richie can purr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, pain, pain meds, and just two bros cuddling.

Richie smiles at Eddie's enthusiasm, and he suddenly yawns, then relaxes onto the bed. "...I'm gonna go to sleep... you gonna stay up...?" Richie asks, turning over onto his side again to face Eddie.

"...it's kinda the only choice I have..." Eddie says, still being in too much pain to be comfortable enough to go to sleep, because of the pain meds wore off a few hours ago. But he didn't want to trouble with Richie going to get up and get him more pain meds. So he just opted to stay up and deal with the pain.

"Wha- Oh, the pills wore off didn't they? Yeah, those don't last a super long time..." Richie says, shrugging. "You wanna take some more? I'll be enough to let you get some rest..." Richie offers, knowing Eddie would need the rest to recover quicker, he'd taken a pretty good beating.

"... yeah.. sure..." Eddie says sighing, giving into Richie's kindness, because he really did want to sleep, and knowing he needs the pain meds for now to do that, so he let's Richie go and gets the pain meds without making a fuss about it.

Richie nods and walks out of the room, cringing as his stomachs contents sloshed and churned around every time he moved, but eventually he came back to the bedroom with a glass of water and the container of pills in hand, and he sets them down on the nightstand on Eddie's side of the bed, before finally laying back down where he had been before. As soon as Richie's head hit the pillow, his eyelids immediately dropped and became heavy. The food coma was finally kicking in, he assumed, and he let himself drift off, falling asleep rather quickly.

Eddie took one of the pain meds and laid back down next to Richie, starting to drift off to sleep himself when the meds kicked in, so he kinda curled into a ball and finally passed out until the morning.

Richie wakes up the next morning, and he feels strangely... warm. The bed in general is warmer than usual. He opens his eyes and blinks the sleep away from his eyes, only to find himself curled around Eddie, his chin resting on top of the smaller man's head, and their legs entangled with Eddie's face pressed into his chest. He freezes, not sure if Eddie was awake or not, and he didn't want to startle him, but once seeing he was asleep, he relaxes, deciding not to move, as the position was actually pretty comfortable.

Eddie wakes up a couple minutes after Richie, sleeping looking up at him, also noticing that the larger man was curled around him. But Eddie didn't mind it, as Richie had sorta done it before the day prior to this one. This just showed Richie was a big soft cuddler, but that wasn't a bad thing, if anything it was adorable, considering his background.

"Uh... good mornin'..." Richie says quietly, relaxing once seeing that Eddie didn't seem to mind the position, and he shifts slightly, before settling back down. He really didn't want to move, not while he was so warm and comfortable.

"... morning...." Eddie says, still just waking up, although he was awake enough to notice how Richie seemed like he didn't want to get up from their snuggly position, but Eddie kinda didn't either, Richie was big, warm, and nice. So Eddie didn't want to ruin his cuddly mood because like he mentioned before it was quite adorable.

Richie hums, curling around Eddie a little more, enjoying the warmth and closeness of it. Eventually, a deep, steady, and loud rumble of a purr begins to sound from inside of his chest and throat, and he presses his face into the softness of Eddie's hair, once again basking in the calmness of his scent.

Eddie feels how Richie wraps around him even more, Eddie kinda liked it, it was warm and safe. But then he hears him start purring and he couldn't help himself from gasping and saying "...oh my God... you're purring!.." excitedly looking up at Richie and smiling.

Richie stiffens for a moment; it'd been years since he'd last purred, but this... this was nice. "....yeah... it's been a while since I've last done it..." He says, relaxing and chuckling a little at Eddie's excitement, his purr increasing in volume.

".... really!?!...why?..it sounds nice..." Eddie says/asks, hearing as Richie chuckles then his purring picks up in volume, to the point where Eddie could feel it since Richie was literally curled around him, almost in a cuddly but protective way, but Richie's protectiveness was only for when they were on cases, right?.

"...it's just been a long time since I've been happy enough to do it..." Richie admits, the loud rumbling of his purr stuttering and cutting out for a moment while he spoke, before resuming to the strong and steady rhythm it was before.

".....I make you happy enough to purr?...." Eddie asks curiously and hesitantly, still not wanting to overstep Richie's comfort boundaries, hearing Richie's purring pick up at the same volume when he was done speaking, still rumbling his chest to where Eddie could still feel it.

"...Mhmm..." Richie hums, nodding a little. "...you're just so comfortable to be around... hell, even your scent is calming to me..." He admits, nuzzling his face into Eddie's hair soon after.

"....wow.... I've never had someone say that..." Eddie says softly, still not used to hearing people be nice to him or compliment him. feeling Richie nodding then nuzzling into his hair, still purring while doing so made Eddie smiles and starts tearing up, amazed that Richie was being so nice to him

Richie smiles, pulling Eddie closer, and smushing him further into his chest, careful not to squeeze him too hard though, he didn't want to hurt him. "You're tiny and compact, so you're portable... you're nice to talk to... even your scent is soothing, and smells fucking delicious... and you're just- you're a good person, Eds... I don't think you could ever do a wrong thing in your life..." Richie says, listing all the reasons he liked being around him, and purring even harder.

Eddie makes a literal squeak as Richie smushes him against his chest and starts saying a bunch of nice things about him, purring even louder than before but then Eddie pipes up and says "...but I do wrong things... like last night...and how the fuck am I portable or d-delicious?...." Hopefully not ruining Richie's happy and purring mood.

"What you did wasn't wrong, you just made a mistake... we all make mistakes sometimes, it's normal." Richie says, shrugging. "And by portable, I mean you're small, so you're easy to carry. Like a little backpack or something." He jokes, deciding to avoid the second question, regretting that he'd said Eddie smelled delicious, he really hoped he didn't make Eddie nervous by saying that. But he couldn't help it, he smelled so good.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie talk while Richie eats a snack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: graphic description of Richie's eating a head, cannibalism, death, Vore, Eddie's phobia.

".....oh... okay.... but I can tell you're avoiding the last one.. but alright...." Eddie says softly being upfront, hoping Richie didn't get mad at him for noticing, but he was still purring so that was a good sign, it's not that he was really uncomfortable with it at this point, because Eddie knew that Richie wasn't going to eat him and was just talking about his smell, so all was good, maybe?

Richie blushes in embarrassment at Eddie noticing, his purr stuttering again for a moment before resuming at the same steady rumble it had been. Richie had to admit, Eddie smelled so good, he almost wanted to eat him... but not where he'd tear him apart. No, he wanted to just... shrink Eddie down and swallow him, he wanted to keep him safe and protected inside of his own body, so nobody could hurt him ever again. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't go through with it, not after he promised Eddie he wouldn't eat him again... even if it was safe, he didn't want to betray Eddie's trust. And with that thought, Richie's stomach gurgles hungrily, much to his embarrassment, and he blushes more.

Eddie hears Richie's stomach gurgle but doesn't flinch or move away, he just noticed Richie looked embarrassed and didn't answer his question, but that was okay, Eddie probably just made him uncomfortable, so he was going to back off on the questions and the talking, but he also noticed that Richie was still purring so that was... good? Eh Richie looked like he was still happy so it probably was.

"...So, uh, do you feel better now...?" Richie asks, mainly to change the topic, but also because he was genuinely asking, since he didn't know if Eddie was able to move around painlessly yet.

"....yea...but a bunch of shit still hurts...." Eddie says, kinda noticing the way that Richie was actually weird after his question about his smell, but Eddie just brushes it off again as him still being uncomfortable about it, so he pays no mind to it by answering Richie's question.

Richie nods, knowing it had to hurt to have that many cuts and bruises. "You want me to go and grab some breakfast? I can't really cook, so..." Richie offers, shrugging. There was a nice dinner nearby he could probably pick some breakfast up from, but he wasn't really sure if Eddie was hungry or not.

"....no..no...I'm good..." Eddie says softly, not wanting Richie to care for him more than he needs, even if he wanted to. Because Eddie leeching off of Richie's kindness would just be wrong, and he just didn't want to be rude.

"Alright, suit yourself..." Richie says, shrugging, before finally scooting away from Eddie and getting up. "But if you want me to go out and grab anything for you later, just let me know, okay?" He says, standing by the side of the bed, looking at Eddie with a gentle smile.

"... okay...." Eddie says softly, kinda disappointed that Richie moved away and was gonna leave him, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he smiled back at Richie before he left.

Richie nodded to Eddie, before leaving the room. He walked to the kitchen, opening his 'special' fridge to rummage through it, grabbing a jar with a head inside of it from one of the shelves before shutting the fridge, turning to the table to try and pry the jar lid open, and swearing loudly when it refused to come off.

Eddie hears Richie swear loudly, so he wanders out of Richie's room, down the hallway and into the kitchen, where he heard Richie yell, going to ask "....you...okay?..." Only to get cut off by witnessing Richie trying to pry the lid off of the jar with the human head in it, trying everything from a knife to his mouth to open it.

"Yeah, this jar is being a little bitch though..." Richie says, but suddenly whooping in success when the lid finally pops off. "Uh... I don't think you're gonna wanna watch this..." Richie says, looking up at Eddie, his hand halfway in the jar to lift the head out.

".... dude...I watched you eat a whole person....I'm not going to care..." Eddie says truthfully, not wanting Richie to try to hide his eating habits just because he was at home "...plus I got to get used to it eventually...." He adds almost nonchalantly, as he walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, literally having a deceased human head in front of him, of course he thought it was gross and morbid as fuck, but oh well, it was Richie's food, not his. So who was he to judge.

"Oh, u-uh." Richie stammers, pausing out of surprise, before shrugging and pulling the head out the rest of the way, setting it down on the table and moving the jar to the counter. "Does this seriously not bother you, like, at all?" He asks, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"....it does....a little bit.....but like I said.... I've eventually got to get used to it...." Eddie replies, looking down with pursed lips at the head laying on the table, mentally preparing himself to watch Richie eat it, knowing that it would probably be messy and gross, but he was okay with it, this was going to be what he has to see every night anyway, so it is what it is.

Richie blinks at Eddie for a few moments, but he eventually shrugs, seeing Eddie's reasoning for it, and he turns back to the table. Immediately, he bends forward, grabbing the sides of the head to hold it in place, before biting into the front of the skull, a loud crunch sounding from the action, and then a slimy squelching sound emitting from inside of the skull as Richie slides his tongue inside of it to hungrily slurp of some of the brains.

Eddie watches, a little horrified by the fact that he's watching human flesh be eaten, again. But he did not say anything and just stared as Richie slurps out the head's brains, cringing at the sound of it, especially the crunching of the bone, but he supposes that Richie eat the head was the equivalent of a normal person eat a apple or chicken, so like he stated earlier, no reason for him to judge Richie's food choices.

Moving lower, Richie bites down next to one of the eyes, and then reaches his tongue into the cavity and behind the eye-socket, pushing the eyeball out and scooping it Into his mouth with his tongue, biting into the squishy membrane of it and swallowing, before going back to the head, crunching down on the side of the skull.

Eddie cringes more and gets a little sick in the stomach at these actions, but still continues watching Richie have his breakfast, which reminded him that he was hungry, so he gets up, goes to Richie's kitchen cabinet, fixes himself some cereal and sits back down in front of Richie, who was halfway through the head, and starts eating cereal like this a normal thing that just happens. Well, for Richie it was.

Richie looks up from the head for a moment, blood dripping down his chin, and he squints at Eddie. "This... this really doesn't fucking bother you at all..." Richie mumbles in disbelief, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts, and he digs back into the head, crunching down on another piece of the skull.

Eddie just chuckles at Richie's comment on him not being bothered by his eating habits or his choice of human head for breakfast, then just continues casually eating his bowl of cereal, watching as Richie crunches back into the skull that one belonged to a criminal, one that nearly cost Eddie his life. But that didn't matter now, especially since the last of what was left of the guy was currently being put in Richie's belly.

Finally finishing the head, Richie licks some of the blood off of his lips, attempting to wipe some of the crimson red liquid from his chin as well, but he huffs when it just smears across his face more. He turns around to the sink, washing the blood off of his face and hands, before sitting at the table across from Eddie, suddenly burping and blushing from embarrassment.

Eddie chuckles again from Richie's sudden burp, continuing to eat his cereal until he was done, getting up and rinsing off his bowl, then going and sitting back down in front of Richie again. Ready to see what they were going to do next, wondering if they were going to prepare for the next case or not.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie gets hyped and takes a nap before the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, gore, Vore, cuddling, Eddie's insecurities, Eddie's phobia.

"So, Eds... who's for dinner tonight?" Richie asks in a joking tone, but being actually serious about it, wanting to know who was next on his menu, he leans back in his chair, letting out another small burp that was slightly louder than the last.

Eddie actually laughs at Richie saying 'who's for dinner' instead of 'what's for dinner' before saying "....well for tonight it's Jake Hylls.... another murderer...." Shuddering thinking about being held at gunpoint by the last murderer he faced, but it would be okay, Richie was there.

Richie smiles at being able to make Eddie laugh, before nodding, he'd definitely enjoy tearing this next guy apart. "So, I'm killing Jake from statefarm tonight?" Richie blurts out, laughing at his own words, and leaning back into his chair some more.

Eddie also busts out laughing, barely being able to say "... yeah...I guess so!.." glad that Richie could lighten up his mood, especially since he was still afraid that he would get killed on a case, mainly because on the last two cases he nearly did, but Richie practically vowed that he would protect Eddie at all costs.

Richie smiles, crossing his legs beneath the table, and he sighs, still somewhat tired. "Ugh... mornings suck to be honest..." He mumbles, crossing his arms on the table and resting his chin on top of them.

"... yeah....they really do...." Eddie says, yawning just thinking about how his mornings used to be boring, but of course they're not anymore with Richie as his friend, because Richie was interesting, funny, and somewhat adorable.

"Y'know what? Fuck it, I'm gonna go take a nap." Richie states with a chuckle, before standing up from his chair and stretching, sighing when his back popped with a loud cracking sound.

"... alright...." Eddie says, cringing at the loud cracking of Richie's back popping, he stayed seated at Richie's kitchen table, knowing that every time Richie wanted to take a nap or sleep wasn't an invitation for Eddie to come with him.

"...can you wake me up later...? Like, in an hour or two...?" Richie asks, pausing in the doorway to look back at Eddie, yawning for a moment while doing so.

"....uh yeah sure man...." Eddie says to Richie, kinda disappointed that he couldn't cuddle with Richie, but then again doing that too much might be weird, so watches as Richie disappears into his room for an hour or two.

Richie walked to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed, and he tried to close his eyes to go to sleep... but he couldn't. He turns onto his side, trying several different angles and positions, but... He just couldn't sleep. The bed felt too empty and cold to sleep in, so no matter how genuinely tired he was, he just couldn't sleep. So he gets up and walks back through the hallway, deciding to see what Eddie was up to.

Eddie was just still sitting at Richie's kitchen table just fiddling with his thumbs, waiting for when he was told to wake up Richie, not noticing said man standing in the hallway looking at him.

Richie stands there awkwardly for a few minutes, waiting for Eddie to notice him there, and once realizing Eddie wasn't going to notice him, he clears his throat loudly to get his attention.

Eddie gets spooked when Richie clears his throat, almost jumpy from his seat. But looking over and seeing Richie standing there he asks curiously "...uh what's wrong....can't sleep?..."

"Yeah... Uh.... do you mind joining me....?" Richie asks awkwardly, looking off to the side and avoiding Eddie's gaze out of embarrassment. "You, uh, you don't have to if you don't want to..." He adds, not wanting Eddie to feel like he had to just because he asked.

"... yeah..." Eddie says softly, surprised that Richie wanted him to come take a nap with him. Well, not really, but kinda, because he at least thought that Richie would want some time away from him, but it seems like that's not the case.

Richie smiles softly at Eddie's agreement, and he turns to walk back to the bedroom, looking back behind him for a moment to see if Eddie was following, and then once reaching the bedroom again, he flops down onto the bed, making the mattress scream from his sudden weight again.

Eddie follows Richie to his bedroom, standing at the bedroom door watching him ungracefully flop down onto his bed. Eddie then walks into the room climbing on the bed beside Richie, hoping he didn't mind the closeness without giving the okay for it beforehand.

Richie turns on his side so he is facing Eddie, and he drapes an arm over the smaller man's chest, pulling him a little closer, and carelessly tangling his legs with Eddie's own.

Eddie squeaks in surprise when Richie does this, squirming around a little bit before settling down, getting comfortable with Richie curled around him like he was this previous morning. Welp, Eddie guesses the idea that Richie didn't want to be close to him was a bunch of bullshit, especially the way he was holding him right now. Suddenly Eddie heard the telltale rumbling coming from his chest, winch meant that he was purring and happy.

Richie chuckles at Eddie's small squeak, and curls around him more, his purring getting increasingly louder the longer he lied there. Once again, all Richie could smell was Eddie's scent, and he relaxes at it, already familiar with it.

Eddie hears Richie's chuckling, then feels Richie curl around him even more and his purring get way louder, but Eddie didn't mind, Richie's purring was fairly calming in his opinion, it was also as he stated earlier very adorable.

Richie suddenly feels a wave of tiredness hit him again, and he slowly begins to drift off, with sleep coming to him much easier this time, trusting that Eddie would wake him up in a few hours.

Eddie hears as Richie breathing and purring deepens, signaling that he is now starting his nap, meaning that Eddie would have to stay up to wake him up in one or two hours. So he just lays there watching Richie peacefully sleeping, thinking about the case and how he was probably going to get hurt again.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: cannibalism, Eddie's phobia, Vore, gore.

Richie eventually stirs awake, feeling that Eddie was still curled up in the bed with him, he stays still, faking being asleep so he could lay there longer, wanting to relax for a bit.

Eddie feels as Richie wakes up, hearing his breathing and purring return to it's normal volume, but he noticed that Richie was still acting like he was asleep. Which Eddie being a cop, he could tell the difference between someone who was awake or asleep and dead or alive, so he playfully says "....ya know I know you're awake..." Smirking as he looks back and up at Richie who still had his eyes closed even though he was for sure awake.

Richie smiles, trying his hardest not to laugh, but he still kept his eyes shut in a futile attempt to make Eddie think he was asleep, even though he knew it wouldn't work. "...No... 'm sleepin'..." He says, faking a tired mumble.

"....yea right..ya big goof...I know you are sooo not asleep...." Eddie says in the same playful tone as before, seeing Richie smiling and physically try to restrain himself from laughing. So he uses his most powerful tactic against him, booping his nose.

Richie suddenly bursts into laughter, giving Eddie the same goofy grin he had before. "You little shit!" He exclaims, still laughing, and he moves to grab one of Eddie's wrists, wrestling with him on the mattress.

".... what...I knew you were awake!!..." Eddie says playfully, trying to squirm away from Richie's, but was to no avail, Richie had him pinned. So Eddie stared up at Richie, waiting for his next move, at least knowing for certain it wouldn't be to devour him, winch was a relief.

Richie finally stops laughing, but is still looming over Eddie and keeping him pinned down. "I still can not get over how tiny you are." He blurts out, mainly because he noticed his body completely covered and surrounded Eddie's, basically caging him in.

Eddie rolls his eyes replying "...of course you can't.." jokingly, looking back up at Richie again before saying "... well, then how are you so big? No wait it's probably from the people eating..." Hoping that last part didn't hurt Richie's feelings, because Eddie would hate himself forever if he did that to the poor big guy.

Richie chuckles at Eddie's response, shaking his head a little. "Nah, you're just small." He says, still grinning, and he reaches a hand up to boop Eddie on the nose, as he'd done to him a few minutes ago.

Eddie gasps faking annoyance and offence when Richie boops him on the nose, saying jokingly"....hey no.... that's my Criminal Eater taming tactic... you can't have it..." Putting on a fake frowny face, trying his best not to laugh out loud again.

"What, am I not allowed to tame the tiny gremlin?" Richie jokes, poking fun at Eddie's height once again, and he chuckles, poking Eddie's forehead.

"...I am not a gremlin!!!..." Eddie exclaims, still faking annoyance, swatting at Richie hand that was poking him in the forehead, still just barely containing his own laughter.

"Fine, you goblin." Richie says, smiling, then laughing at Eddie swatting his hand away, and he pokes Eddie's chest instead, chuckling at the annoyed glare he was giving him that he could tell was clearly fake.

Eddie keeps his fake frown on, looking up at Richie again after he poked him in the chest, but this time when he looks up he sticks his tongue out at him, whilst swatting at Richie's hand again.

"You look like a grumpy little kitten." Richie says, laughing at Eddie sticking his tongue out at him, and he sticks his own tongue out in response, blowing a raspberry at him as well.

Eddie stuck his tongue back in his mouth, before playfully pushing Richie's face away, while he still had his tongue out. Meaning that Eddie's hand accidentally touched it, getting saliva all over his hand, causing Eddie to screech loudly. Not thinking that his hand would ever get that close to Richie's mouth again, much less nearly in it, and to Eddie that was a close call.

Richie stiffens up at Eddie's hand touching his tongue, and he goes completely still, processing what just happened with the absolutely delicious vanilla taste in his mouth. He slowly drags his tongue across his lips in hopes of getting more of the sweet flavour, and he finally looks down at Eddie, his eyes wide and pupils dilated. Fuck, that's what he tasted like? Holy shit. Eddie tasted... so good.

Eddie saw as Richie licked his lips and looked down at him, his eyes dilated. Eddie did not like the look that Richie was giving him, especially since he knew what it somewhat meant. But no, Eddie didn't need to be afraid, Richie promised he wouldn't eat him again, and that would be just absolutely ridiculous to think that Richie would turn feral on him. So Eddie assumes Richie's just thinking about tonight's meal/case.

Richie blinks, and shakes his head to snap out of the train of thought, his eyes returning to normal as he flops over down next to Eddie, finally releasing Eddie so he could get up if he wanted. He covers his face with his hands, ashamed he even thought about eating Eddie again, especially since he promised he wouldn't and he didn't want to scare him. His stomach suddenly growls and gurgles loudly, complaining and begging for Eddie to fill it, and Richie squeezes his eyes shut, silently begging for it to stop.

Eddie hears Richie's stomach gurgling and growling loudly after he flopped over beside him, but he noticed that Richie was covering his face, so Eddie softly asks him "....you okay man?..." Wanting to know if anything was bothering Richie, so if it was he could maybe help him with it if he was able to. 

Richie tenses up at the question, and he shudders when his stomach lets out a particularly loud rumble. "Y-yeah I'm-I'm fine-" He lies, getting cut off by another loud groan from his stomach. It seemed like every single part of his body and instincts wanted Eddie inside of his gut, but he knew he couldn't do that to him, and he was torn between just doing it and getting it over with, or just letting his stomach antagonize him.

Eddie hears Richie's belly growling loudly again and pipes up saying ".... you're stomach is being verbal about tonight's case isn't it?..." Oblivious to the real reason Richie's stomach was acting up. Eddie still assumed that it was Richie probably being excited to go on another case with him, and make a fresh meal out of another murderer.

"Yep." He says quickly, realizing that Eddie didn't know, and he decides to try and make sure he doesn't. He didn't want Eddie to be scared of him... but he still wanted to eat him, so badly it was actually making his stomach begin to hurt. "Fucking hell..." He stutters, his gut letting out a few more gurgles and groans that were so loud in volume, he could feel them very clearly.

"...I guess we better get started then!..." Eddie says with a little bit of enthusiasm, seeing and hearing that Richie was very hungry, also noticing that it was kinda hurting him, but that was probably because he hasn't had anything to eat since breakfast, so they better get a move on, so Richie doesn't have to be hungry longer than necessary.

Richie finally looks over to him and nods, slowly getting up from the bed, jolting again at another loud rumble erupting from his stomach, before giving Eddie a sheepish smile. He decides he'll eat this next criminal whole just to enjoy the squirming, and he'd kill them later, that would probably curb the hunger gnawing at his belly, and the urge to eat Eddie.

Eddie sees Richie's smile and gets up too, heading down the hallway, into the living room. Then sitting on the couch waiting for Richie to join him, so they can prepare for the next case aka Richie's next dinner.

"...How many is there this time...?" Richie asks, joining Eddie in the living room, and he sits down next to him, crossing his arms over his stomach, which was still groaning and growling loudly.

".... well... there's Jake....but he also has an unnamed accomplice...who lures in most of his victims...so just two..." Eddie says with a sigh, looking over to Richie, whose stomach was still growling loudly, wanting a meal to fill it. Eddie really hopes this case doesn't go like the last one, but with how wimpy he was. It probably would.

"Oh, good..." Richie says, knowing that he'd be twice as full while the squirming would be doubled, and if he had to be honest, he was looking forward to it. It had been a good little bit since he'd last had a live meal(Eddie excluded), after all.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie go on their next case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, cannibalism, gore, death, near death experience, Eddie's phobia, guns, Richie being cruel to criminals.

"...so... You ready?..." Eddie asks, knowing that Richie would probably immediately say yes, and then they would be on their way to another scary and tough case.

Richie nods excitedly, getting up from the couch almost immediately. "We've gotta go in your car again though, right? Or do you wanna go to mine?" He asks, simply wanting to know what would work the best for Eddie.

"....I guess yours will be fine..." Eddie replies softly, seeing how excited Richie was for the case, but the reason Eddie didn't want to go in his car was because didn't want to waste Richie's time knowing they're probably going to leave bloody again.

Richie nods, shrugging. "Alright then, let's go." Richie says, and since he didn't know where they were going he assumed Eddie was going to drive, so he tossed his keys to him before heading out the door.

Eddie catches Richie's keys, then they go and get in Richie's car, again driving to the outskirts of Derry, because apparently every fucking criminal that Eddie has to catch lives out there, but that's besides the point. They pull up to a fairly broken looking little shack. Eddie gets out first again but waits for Richie this time.

Richie climbs out, and he slowly walks up to the house, keeping an arm in front of Eddie so he could push him back if it was necessary. Opening the door a small crack, Richie peeks in, seeing some light inside, and he pulls away from the door, signaling to Eddie that they were inside.

Whilst Richie was in front of him, some came up behind Eddie and put a rag on his face, causing him to black out so they could drag him off away from Richie, winch they did, again... When Eddie became conscious again, he was tied up like last time, except for this time he was in the middle of the woods with a rag over his mouth. Looking up he, was horrified to be face to face with Jake Hylls, who was holding a loaded 45 up to his head, almost as if he was holding Eddie for ransom and he kept looking at the woods like he was waiting for someone.

Richie pauses for a moment when he realizes Eddie isn't behind him anymore, and he turns around searching the area for him, and seeing the trail of kicked up dirt leading into the woods. "Oh for fucks sake..." He mumbles, before suddenly getting hit in the back of the head with something, causing him to fall over, but not pass out. Quickly scrambling to get back up, he whips around, only to see someone standing in the doorway with a baseball bat. He wasn't sure if this was Jake or his accomplice, but he didn't care either way, so he leaps at him, shoving him back through the doorway into the shack and knocking the bat away. Pinning the man to the ground, he begins shrinking him, watching with glee as shock and fear make the man's eyes go wide, and he lifts the now tiny man up over his head, opening his mouth beneath him and letting him dangle over his mouth for a few moments. But knowing he had to find Eddie though, he drops him into his mouth, swallowing, and he grins in delight as the man squirms all the way down his esophagus, eventually plopping into his stomach, still thrashing and screaming. He looks down at his middle, seeing it was pushed out another inch or two, and the man was fighting so hard he could see him struggling through his shirt, which actually kinda surprised him.

Eddie meanwhile just sits there not moving an inch, because he didn't want Jake to blow his brains out before Richie could find him, winch when Richie does find Eddie and maybe rescue him, he's probably going to be mad that he got himself kidnapped again, but that's for Richie to know and for Eddie to see if he could survive to find out.

Richie sighs, now feeling full, and he stands up, the man in his gut fighting even harder at the movement, still screaming his head off. "Shut the fuck up." He snaps, poking his middle, and the man immediately stops screaming, probably fearing the repercussions if he didn't. The man inside didn't stop squirming and thrashing though, but Richie wasn't going to stop him, since it actually felt nice. Walking out of the shack, he starts following the dirt tracks into the woods, eventually spotting Eddie tied up to a tree with a gun to his head. Richie's eyes widen, and he quickly ducks behind another tree, hoping the other guy didn't see him.

Eddie was still staying completely still, wondering if Richie was going to find him at all, he hopes that even more so when Jake looks down at him with a menacing look and seethes out ".... your friend better get here soon or I'm going to paint the forest with your blood and guts...." Causing Eddie to cry, because at this point he believes that this is it. He's a dead man.

Hearing Eddie start crying, Richie jumps out from behind the tree and bodyslams Jake to the ground, screaming "YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!" at the top of his lungs. He wrestles with him on the ground for a few minutes, before Richie finally manages to grab Jake's wrists and pin him to the ground, sitting on top of his legs as well. It was only then that the screaming coming from Richie's inside stomach was audible, and Jake's eyes widened with fear and horror, while Richie smirked. Richie begins shrinking Jake, laughing as the man screams at him to stop, and once he gets him to the same size as the other man inside his belly, he lifts him up and dangles him over his mouth in the same manner he'd done before. "Hope you don't mind joining your buddy in here..." Richie says, chuckling darkly and patting his middle, before finally dropping Jake into his mouth, cringing at the amount of dirt on the man, but he swallows nonetheless, sighing blissfully at all the squirming. Feeling Jake get squeezed into his gut, he sighs again when both of the men inside squirm around even more, the movement being much clearer with so little space inside. He does, however, nearly burst out in laughter when one of them tries to push their way back up his esophagus, finding it funny because there was no way in hell it would actually work.

Eddie however was still crying. Mainly from shock and still being tied up, but also because he still thinks that Richie's going to be mad at him for getting caught again, so he closes his eyes bracing to get yelled at, not knowing that Richie ate Jake because he made Eddie cry.

Richie stands up, his stomach sticking out more than usual now, and Richie chuckles when he sees it moving from the outside, enjoying all the squirming and muffled screams. Turning to Eddie, he quickly goes behind the tree to unite him, removing the cloth gag from his mouth as well. "Hey, you okay, Eds?" He asks softly, wiping some of the tears away from Eddie's face, and he moves to help him up from the ground.

"...N-no..." Eddie whimpers out, still crying a little bit, not understanding why Richie wasn't mad at him for getting caught, he was being gentle even though he just ate someone.

"Shit, uh, are you hurt?" Richie asks, carefully wrapping his arm around Eddie's shoulders and gently guiding him back out of the woods, following the dirt trail Eddie had left earlier while getting dragged. The men continue screaming and fighting, but Richie does his best to ignore it, getting slightly annoyed with how much noise the two men in his belly were making.

"... N-no..." Eddie whimpers out again, still shook up at the fact that he had a gun pointed to his head and was moments from death. So Eddie just lets Richie guide him out of the woods, his whole body still shaking in fear. So, no he wasn't hurt but he damn sure wasn't okay.

Richie silently walks Eddie to the car, carefully helping Eddie get into the car, and he climbs into the drivers side before driving home. Richie pulls into the driveway, quickly getting out of the car and leading Eddie into his apartment, and he gently sits him down on the couch before going to get some hot chocolate, hoping that might help him calm down and relax.

Eddie sits on Richie's couch still shaking, still in fear from what happened. Right now he just wanted to be held or maybe cuddled, but that was too much to ask for from Richie, especially since Richie just saved his ass, and had to eat Jake alive and it seemed like he didn't even get to enjoy his meal or meals?

Richie comes back with a mug of hot chocolate, and he sets it down on the coffee table in front of Eddie, then he gently wraps an arm around Eddie's shoulders, pulling him close. "Do you need anything else?" Richie asks, rubbing small circles into Eddie's shoulder with his thumb.

"....I don't know..." Eddie lies, not telling Richie what he really needs, because he still thinks it would be him asking too much from Richie, he's still too scared to move so he doesn't reach for his hot cocoa that Richie gave him, Eddie hopes that Richie doesn't get upset that he'd not drink it.

Richie nods, knowing Eddie wasn't telling him the entire truth, but he didn't want to pressure him into telling him. So instead, Richie pokes at his stomach again, watching with an eyebrow raised as his stomach jolted, the two men inside beginning to squirm and struggle again, much to Richie's delight.

Eddie flinches as he sees the men in Richie's belly squirming, hearing them screaming, freaking him out a bit because they were still fucking alive in Richie's stomach. And that fucking horrified him, making him shake more than he already was, because now he realized that Richie could eat people alive, but Eddie kept telling himself that it was okay, that Richie would never eat him, right?

Looking over, Richie sees Eddie's fear, and he gently grabs his hand, hoping to comfort him. "Hey, it's okay... they can't get to you now, okay?" He says, assuming that Eddie was scared because the man who'd had a gun to his head was in extremely close proximity to him, but Richie was completely unaware of the real reason.

Eddie doesn't respond and says nothing, he just shakes his head, because that was nowhere near the real reason that Eddie was now afraid, but when Richie grabbed his hand that only made his shaking worsen by a lot. Eddie just couldn't help it, like he trusts Richie, but his whole resolve and bravery were just crumbling.

Richie realizes that him grabbing Eddie's hand made him shake more, so he hesitantly lets go, and slowly scoots away a little bit, giving Eddie some space for now. "Hey... it's okay, just breathe." Richie says softly, leaning forward a little on his end of the couch, which squished his somewhat rounded belly, making the two men inside squirm and thrash more.

Eddie hated seeing Richie scoot away, because that was honestly that was the last thing he wanted, and it made him just feel like a shitty person. But the squirming just scared him for some reason he didn't know how to name. So he got up from the couch, then just went and locked himself in Richie's bathroom, starting to cry again because of how shitty of a person he was. He was just as bad as all of the people that Richie poured out his feelings to Eddie telling him about it, he hoped Richie could forgive him for still being afraid.

Richie sighs, watching the door close behind Eddie. He didn't blame him for being scared, he really didn't, it was just... frustrating. He wanted Eddie to trust him and not be afraid of him, but he knew it would take time. For now though, he decided to wait for Eddie to come back out, so they could talk whenever Eddie was ready. While he waited he continued messing with the two people in his belly, poking and prodding at them just to make them squirm in fear.

Eddie stays in the bathroom for nearly an hour or two, before hesitantly coming out of it, creeping down the hallway and into the living room. Only to see that Richie's still up, Eddie slowly walks to the couch, sitting down beside Richie but not even daring to look up at him, hoping that Richie isn't too mad at him for the shitty way he just acted.

"...Hey...You okay now...?" Richie asks softly, not wanting to startle Eddie, and he turns to him, moving slowly. "...I know how it feels, I've had guns pointed at me before by criminals too... it's fucking terrifying..." He says, hoping Eddie would feel less alone that way, if he knew that Richie had been through it too.

"....yes... and no..." Eddie answers softly, still too spooked to really be completely back to his normal happy Eddie self, and the gun being pointed at still wasn't what he was afraid of anymore, but he couldn't let Richie know that it would break their friendship, and that was something that Eddie would die before losing.

Richie sees that Eddie is still spooked, and his eyes widen when it finally sinks in, realizing why Eddie was so scared. "Oh shit... it's me, isn't it...?" He says quietly, wrapping his arms around his belly in an attempt to hide the roundness of it, hoping that might help Eddie relax a little. "...I won't eat you, I promise... even if I did though, you'd be safe..remember...I-I can't digest living things..." He says, hoping that might put Eddie at ease a little.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie's secret about wanting to eat Eddie is out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Richie is still being cruel to the criminals, Eddie's insecurities.

"..WHAT!?!..." Eddie nearly screeches confused and scared at the same time. So Richie was thinking about eating him again! But he still keeps saying that he promises he won't, so what the hell. But he didn't run, not yet.

Richie jumps at the sudden noise, scooting away, and the people in his gut start squirming again. "...u-uh.... I'm... sorry...?" He says, confused as to why Eddie yelled like that.

"... you've been thinking about eating me again this whole time... haven't you?..." Eddie whispers out, feeling bad that he scared Richie, but I'd still freaked out by the squirming in his gut, because he didn't know if Richie was telling the truth about his stomach not digesting things that stay in there for a long time. They could be slowly melting away, but they were murderers so he guesses justice is served, alive and screaming?

Richie stays silent for a moment, before slowly nodding. "...yeah... I'm sorry... God, it's been antagonizing me the whole time... you just smell so good, I just- I really wanted to. So badly. But... I didn't, because I didn't want you to run away and leave me afterwards..." He admits quietly, avoiding Eddie's gaze shamefully. "I'm sorry... I promised I wouldn't though, so... I've been fighting myself... I want to keep my promise..." He mumbles, pulling his legs up onto the couch with him, and burying his face in his knees.

"...oh..." Eddie says softly not expecting that answer and not knowing how else to respond. Because for one, Richie wanted to eat him and for two how do you eat someone then not kill them, Eddie at this point was just scared, confused and wanted to still be held and feel safe.

Richie stays silent for a few moments, before he finally pulls his head up from his knees, and he looks up at Eddie. "...Can I come closer...?" He asks hesitantly, wanting the okay to approach him, since he didn't want to scare Eddie at all.

"...sure..." Eddie says, kinda too stressed, tired and scared to care anymore. So if Richie was going to kill him or eat him or whatever. It didn't matter at this point, so he allows him to come close again for the first time in hours.

Richie slowly scoots forward, not wanting to move too quickly and risk scaring Eddie, and he reaches over, pulling him in for a gentle hug, which sort of squeezed him against his belly, but Richie ignored it, wanting Eddie to feel safe with him.

Eddie didn't expect a hug, if anything it was the last thing he expected. The first two being mauled or eaten. But the hug was nice even if he was getting squished against Richie's belly, that still spooked Eddie a bit. But he relaxed a little.

Richie feels the men inside start squirming and thrashing again, seemingly scared by being squeezed from the hug, and Richie rolls his eyes, continuing to hold Eddie close. "I ate them because I wanted to keep you safe... I didn't want them to hurt you... they deserved it... especially after Jake from statefarm pointed a gun at you, that was really uncool." He says, joking a little at the end in hopes of lightening the mood.

"...B-but...why do you want to e-eat me?..." Eddie asks quietly, wanting to laugh at Richie's joke, but he's still a little scared. So keeps the mood serious asking the question that was on his mind, hoping Richie was okay with it.

Richie pauses again at that question, stiffening up for a second before relaxing again. "...because... I want to keep you close to me... I want to keep you warm and safe, so nobody can hurt you again... I can't lose you... I just... can't. You're the only person I have that I actually fucking care about..." He says, getting a little choked up, and he buries his face into Eddie's shoulder, tightening his arms around Eddie a little, squeezing him against his belly more.

Eddie was still confused and frightened about how eating him would be safe. But he could tell that Richie was about to start crying, and the words he said to Eddie sounded sincere. So he just lets Richie continue hugging him, because he guesses they both just wanted comfort.

Richie stays like that, holding Eddie tightly, before flinching at a particularly hard kick to his spine. "...I thought they would've passed out from exhaustion by now..." He mumbles, his stomach gurgling at the amount of movement going on inside it.

"..wha-...oh..." Eddie says realizing, upon hearing his stomach gurgling, that Richie was talking to the two criminals still squirming around in his belly. Eddie still felt a little frightened by the fact that they were alive in there, but he was still horrified that Richie just admitted to wanting to do the same exact thing to him, which was eat him then keep him alive and squirming in his belly.

"...I'll let them out later, so you can arrest them or something then..." Richie says quietly, finally pulling away from the hug to look down at his middle, watching from the outside as the two men inside pushed and kicked at him, small bumps forming and moving around underneath his shirt before disappearing back into his flesh again.

"....but what about you... didn't you want to eat them...or... well….kill them?...." Eddie asks carefully and curiously, also watching as the guys in Richie's stomach keep squirming, enough so that you can see it through the flesh. Which added to Eddie's horror, but he still tried not to show it, because even though he now knows some terrible things. He is still Richie's friend and he's not going to make him feel bad again, whether he's going to eat him or not.

"I don't do that all the time, sometimes I let some of them go... y'know, let the cops get 'em..." Richie explains, chuckling a little when one of the people in his belly tries to push back up into his esophagus. "C'mon dude, that's not gonna work..." He mumbles, sort of talking to the men inside.

"....oh ok.... sorry..." Eddie says softly, apologizing for assuming that Richie kills all of the criminals he eats. But then he hears Richie's second comment towards the guys in his gut and Eddie curiously, fearfully and hesitantly asks "...W-what are they d-doing?..." Hoping Richie isn't getting annoyed at him asking questions or still being afraid.

"...One of them is trying to climb back up my throat..." Richie says, glancing up at Eddie for a moment before looking back down at his middle, and he pokes at it, raising an eyebrow when one of the people inside shoves back at his fingers.

"...oh?..." Eddie says softly and curiously, still being a little afraid of Richie, but calming down now, even though he was still wary, especially since tonight's revelations about himself.

"...Yeah... it's not gonna work though..." Richie says, shrugging, before suddenly burping as one of the men made a sudden and jerky movement. "...normally they pass out by now..." He mumbles, pressing down on his stomach for a moment, feeling them thrash around in surprise underneath his hand.

"then they die..." Eddie says morbidly, not even laughing at the small burp Richie let's out like he normally would, still horrified by the movement of the men in Richie's gut. And also being horrified thinking about how Richie was just talking about wanting to put Eddie in there to suffer the same fate as them. Because he still didn't grasp that it was physically impossible for Richie to digest living things.

"What-? No no no, they normally just pass out... as I said before, I can't digest living things... why do you think I always tear them apart instead of doing this?" Richie explains, flinching a little at another kick to his spine, and he presses down on his stomach harder than before out of retaliation, the men inside thrashing and fighting even more while being squeezed.

"...I thought you just liked the blood and the thrill of the kill..." Eddie admits softly, still not getting how someone can be alive in a stomach. But then he flinches when Richie did, still being afraid and wary, so the sudden movement scared him.

"...I mean, yeah, that part is nice... but the squirming feels good too... it's just an interesting feeling..." Richie admits, looking away from Eddie's gaze, slightly embarrassed and shameful at the admission.

"...oh...uh... okay..." Eddie says softly, still not really knowing how to feel about the fact that Richie eats some people alive. but Eddie was still scared that Richie wants to eat him again, hoping that he doesn't, he promised that he wouldn't.

Richie flinches again at another sudden movement inside, and he raises an eyebrow, pressing on his belly again. "...I rarely get ones that move this much, and stay awake this long... as I said, normally they pass out from exhaustion by now..." He says quietly, watching his gut move from the outside as the two people inside continued squirming, but Richie could tell their movements were starting to slow down.

"....do you want to keep them for 'the fridge'... because I really don't want to arrest them right now...." Eddie says softly but tiredly, having stopped paying attention to Richie's gut anymore because he wanted to stop being afraid. Well, as much as he possibly could tonight. Because after Richie told him that he wanted snacks on him, Eddie knows he's going to need a little while to be fully comfortable and not scared of Richie.

"Oh, u-uh, yeah sure..." Richie stammers, having not expected that kind of response from him, but he decides that he could do that nonetheless, and he'd spit them back up later. "You can have my room for tonight if you want, I can take the couch..." He says softly, knowing Eddie was still spooked due to his admission from earlier, so he thought he might want to keep his distance from him.

"...No!... even if I am scared...I refuse to make you sleep on the couch...." Eddie replies seriously. Eddie doesn't care if he was still scared of Richie, making him sleep on the couch because of that would be just wrong, and Eddie would die before he forces Richie out of his own room or living space. And plus even being afraid of him, Eddie kind of missed Richie's cuddling and silly behavior.

"Are... are you sure?" Richie asks, not wanting to make Eddie uncomfortable at all, and he especially didn't want to scare him. "Seriously though, I can sleep out here if it makes you more comfortable... It won't be much trouble for me..." He says softly, since he'd slept on the couch before, even when he didn't need to.

"....No... please don't sleep out here...I already feel shitty for what I did earlier...." Eddie says softly nearly in tears, finally just admitting how he felt in the bathroom when he locked himself in there. Eddie absolutely hated himself for making Richie feel like he couldn't be around him, even if he was horrified at getting eaten again.

"Oh... okay then. Whatever is okay with you..." Richie says softly, standing up, and flinching slightly at another hard kick from inside, the two people in his gut apparently not liking the sudden movement. "Jesus... you two just don't wanna calm down do ya..." He mumbles, sort of to himself.

"... apparently not..." Eddie says chuckling a little bit at Richie's comment towards the men in his belly, sorta returning to his normal sense of humor. Because it really was killing him to be scared of Richie again, especially since he really did trust him and still kinda does. So that's why Eddie didn't want Richie to sleep on the couch, because even if he did want to eat him again. Richie was still Richie. His friend.

Richie chuckles a little as well, shrugging since there wasn't anything he could really do about them moving so much, but then again, it did feel pretty nice. Richie then turns to walk to the bedroom, looking back behind him for a moment to see if Eddie was following. Once seeing that he was, he walks into the bedroom and does his usual ungraceful flop onto the bed, the sudden movement basically tossing the men in his gut around, and he chuckles as the now startled people in his belly started thrashing around, almost as hard as they had been when he first ate them. Pulling his shirt up, he watches in slight amusement from the outside 

Eddie stops at the door when he sees Richie holding up his shirt watching the men in his belly squirming underneath his flesh. That still freaked Eddie out quite a bit. But he decides he needs to be brave around Richie, so he walks in the room and slowly sits on the bed beside Richie, trying to conquer his fear of said man.

"...huh... I'm honestly surprised they've been fighting so long... normally they either pass out or give up after this long..." Richie admits in slight awe, still staring down at his gut as the two men continued thrashing, kicking, and punching at his innards.

".... R-really?..." Eddie says curiously, not really knowing anything about the criminals that Richie's eaten alive. Because Eddie wasn't friends with him at time, he only knew him as The Criminal Eater. But now it was different and Eddie could learn all about it. He just had to keep being brave enough to ask Richie. But first he has to stop being afraid of him.

"...yeah... uh... do you- uh... do you wanna feel...?" Richie asks awkwardly, looking at Eddie sheepishly, not knowing if that would scare him more, so he looks away from Eddie's gaze out of embarrassment, hoping he didn't just make it awkward.

"... uhh...s-sure..." Eddie replies, hesitantly reaching over to Richie's exposed belly, lightly touching it before jumping and yanking his hand back when one of the men in Richie's belly kicked at his hand. He looks over Richie, seeing that he was trying his best to hold back his laughter. Eddie frowns at him faking annoyance, glad to almost be back to their normal behavior.

"Aww, c'mon Eds!! It's not that bad!!" Richie exclaims jokingly, chuckling and gently grabbing Eddie's wrist and guiding it back to his belly, and giving Eddie a goofy grin when one of the men kicks at his hand again.

Eddie makes a grossed out face when Richie does this, and one of the men kicks at his hand again, Eddie frantically saying "no no no no-" before screeching, being weirded out by the movement under the flesh. Eddie yanks away his hand again, then looks at Richie who held the same grin, but only now he was laughing. Eddie frowns at him again before aggressively booping Richie's nose.

Richie laughs so hard he could hardly breathe, and he starts wheezing when Eddie boops his nose, nearly falling off the side of the bed, while the men in his gut start thrashing harder at the shaking and jolting of his laughter. "Holy shit... that gross, huh?" Richie says between huffs, trying to catch his breath.

"...N-no.. just kinda freaky..." Eddie says honestly, watching Richie as he kept laughing at Eddie's reaction to the people in his gut's movement. Eddie decides to drop the fake frown and smiles for the first time in about a day, glad that he could make Richie happy again, especially after making him so upset earlier.

"Okay, I admit, it is sorta freaky... but that kinda loses effect when they start squirming... as I said earlier, it's an interesting feeling.." Richie says, still chuckling a little, and he finally pulls his shirt back down, the men's movements were still visible through the cloth though.

"...yea...I guess..." Eddie says, also being able to see the men's movement under Richie's shirt too. Eddie finally decides he's tired, so he lays back, still next to Richie, hoping that Richie wants to cuddle him. But Eddie knows that was probably too much to ask for. So he doesn't hold his hopes too high.

Richie watches Eddie lay down, and he scoots over towards him, lying down as well, and draping his arm over Eddie's chest and shoulders again, his other arm pressing at his stomach once more.

Eddie smiles when Richie wraps an arm around him, glad that Richie wanted to still curl around him, even if Eddie was a little afraid of him. But Eddie would try to not be, because like he stated earlier Richie was his friend and he trusted him, whether he wanted to eat him again or not.

Richie smiles at him softly, and he begins purring, the men in his stomach beginning to squirm more at the sudden rumbling, but that only made him purr harder and curl around Eddie more.

Eddie decided to ignore the fact that Richie had two men in his stomach, and kept smiling at Richie's purring, happy that Richie was happy enough to purr and curl around him more. Causing Eddie to start to drift off to sleep, being comfortable with Richie again like he was before tonight's incident/case.

Richie slowly begins to drift off himself, still purring loudly. The squirming inside his stomach and the warmth of being cuddled up next to Eddie quickly made him fall asleep, full, warm, and content.

Eddie finally goes completely to sleep, being lulled to sleep by Richie's purring and also just being exhausted from all of the things that happened tonight. But now they were both comfortable with each other again.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just the boys cuddling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, cannibalism, Richie coughs up the two assholes from before, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities.

Richie wakes up first the next morning, tangled up in a heap of limbs with Eddie, and a heavy warmth in his belly. He turns over onto his side, the weight in his stomach being thrown to the side with the motion, and he realizes the men in his stomach are unconscious. Getting up, he stumbles to the kitchen, finding an empty jar, before focusing on his stomach to cough the men back up. Eventually he spits them both back out, and since they're still tiny, he shuts them in the jar, making sure it was one with a few holes in the lid. He's slightly upset at the loss of the warm weight in his gut, but oh well, at least he had a few snacks he could eat later, maybe at normal size too.

Eddie wakes up about an hour after Richie. Getting up he walks through the hallway and into the living room, to see Richie on the couch watching the TV, looking bored as hell. Eddie guesses it's probably because he wasn't up, so Richie probably didn't have anyone to talk to. Well, anyone worth talking to.

"Oh, mornin' Eds." Richie says, patting the spot on the couch next to him as a silent invitation for him to sit down. "Bitch number one and bitch number two are in a jar on the kitchen table, just so you know." Richie says, wanting to warn Eddie just in case he went into the kitchen and got freaked out.

"...oh okay..." Eddie says, chuckling a bit at Richie's nicknames for the two criminals that were in his belly, he then goes and sits down on the spot that Richie patted on next to him. Looking over to Richie who was smiling at him, Eddie guesses that he's probably just happy that he's awake and glad that he doesn't have to be lonely, winch Eddie understood, because he didn't want to be lonely either.

Richie suddenly reaches over and wraps his arms around Eddie's waist, pulling him over into his lap so his back is pressed against his chest, and he gently rests his chin on top of Eddie's head.

Eddie squeaks in surprise when Richie does this, squirming but only a little bit. Feeling as Richie put his chin on the top of his head. Eddie reaches up to boop Richie's nose, but instead boops his lips. Winch earns him a tongue to the hand again, causing Eddie's eyes to widen and him to pull his hand away, wiping it on Richie's shirt muttering out "..oh you asshole..." in fake annoyance.

Richie gasps, acting offended. "I can't help it, Eds!! You taste so gooooood..." He whines dramatically, licking his lips at the creamy vanilla flavor on his tongue. "...Mmm..." He hums, closing his eyes and resting the weight of his entire head on Eddie's own.

Eddie was speechless at Richie's comment at first, especially when he rested the entire weight of his head on Eddie's, then he pipes up and says "...no..I'm I don't...I taste like trash, licorice, and shit..I'm disgusting..." In a matter of fact way, because Eddie wanted to think he tasted bad, because of how horrified he was of the idea of being eaten again, and also because of how shitty he acted last night.

"Nah... you actually taste like vanilla... creamy and sweet..." Richie comments, chuckling a little at Eddie trying to say he tasted bad, still being oblivious to the real reason why, as well as not noticing Eddie's fear and horror.

".... wait.... really?..." Eddie says softly, not expecting that answer from Richie, and it kinda scared him again, but he didn't want to show that to Richie.

"Mhm, just like your personality... I think you're pretty sweet..." Richie says, sort of joking, and he nuzzles his face into Eddie's hair. "Also, off topic, but what kind of shampoo do you use? This smells amazing..." He asks, pressing his face into the back of Eddie's head.

"... just... normal... dollar store men's ..... because I'm too poor to buy anything else..." Eddie replies to Richie's last question, blushing a little at how cuddly Richie was being. Not that it was a bad thing, it actually made Eddie feel like he might be worth something. But it was also still kinda badass because The Criminal Eater was cuddling him, nuzzling his hair to be precise.

"Mhm... you deserve a raise for half the shit you go through..." Richie hums, beginning to purr again. "...your hair is so fucking soft too, what the hell..." He mumbles, reaching a hand up to ruffle it up, and he nearly gasps at how soft it was.

"...nah I'm not good enough for a raise..." Eddie says softly, smiling when he hears Richie start purring, but also chuckling at Richie's reaction to his hair, especially when he ruffles it up with his hand, which makes Eddie playfully swat at Richie's hand like he always does.

"Yeah you are, you face off with deadly criminals almost every day, you definitely deserve a raise." Richie argues, his purr dying down a little at Eddie's self-depreciation, and he squeezes his arms around Eddie's waist more, hugging him closer to his chest.

"... you're the only person that would say that..." Eddie says quietly, hearing Richie's purring die down, but Eddie also felt as Richie hugged him closer. And that made him feel cared for, it also sorta made him feel loved. But that was probably going a little overboard.

"Because it's the truth. Everyone else who says otherwise is just a bitch." Richie says simply, pressing his face back into Eddie's hair, enjoying the sweet strawberry-like smell it had, and he fluffs it up with his hand again.

"....so the whole Derry Police department are bitches?..." Eddie asks jokingly, but also kinda knowing that it was the truth. Because they all called him crazy when he told them about The Criminal Eater, and now he was currently being snuggled by him. That being said he felt as Richie buried his nose in Eddie's hair again taking a big sniff of it, then Richie went and ruffled his hair again too, but this time Eddie didn't swat his hand away. Because in reality he really loves the attention, especially since it was from Richie.

"Derry are is bitches." Richie deadpans, using incorrect speech on purpose, and he rests his chin on Eddie's head again, his purring going back to the same loud volume it was at before.

Eddie chuckles at Richie's incorrect speech, not minding that he had his chin on his head, but knew Richie was right. Then he suddenly noticed that Richie's purring had picked up again so that made him feel better. Eddie is glad he met Richie, even if said man wanted to eat him. He still cheered Eddie up when he was down. So he was a great friend. Probably Eddie's best friend.

Richie smiles at Eddie's chuckling, glad he could make him laugh a little, and he continues purring loudly. Suddenly, he turns to the side, laying down, and pulling Eddie down on top of him.

Eddie squeaks again but doesn't squirm this time when Richie turns over and pulls Eddie on top of him. Eddie looks down at Richie who still had a goofy grin on his face, winch caused Eddie to smile too and laugh at himself for ever being scared of him, even if he was a man-eater. So he boops Richie's nose, again.

Richie purrs even harder at the nose boop, enjoying the attention and affection from Eddie, and he wraps his arms around Eddie's waist again, and he nuzzles his face into Eddie's hair once more.

Eddie just stays still and let's Richie cuddle him, also enjoying the attention and affection, loving the sound of Richie's purring because he knew it meant that he was happy. Eddie really wasn't used to this much attention, but it was nice, so Eddie keeps smiling.

Richie stays like that, cuddling Eddie and purring loudly, until he hears shouting from the kitchen. "Uh... I guess they're awake now." Richie chuckles, hearing a lot of swearing and cursing coming from the kitchen.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are still cuddling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's insecurities, Eddie's phobia.

"...oh... yeah...them..." Eddie says, also hearing the two criminals in the kitchen yelling. He wonders what Richie's gonna do to them, probably something horrible, but they deserve it.

Richie decides to ignore them for now, and his purring starts back up again, getting just as loud as it had been before, and he continues nuzzling Eddie's hair, enjoying the mix of scents on him.

Eddie was glad that Richie decided to ignore them, because he really didn't want to acknowledge them either, he was also glad that Richie was going to continue cuddling him. So Eddie laid there letting Richie nuzzle his hair and purr loudly, making him feel needed and cared about.

"You're so tiny... it's adorable... you're a tiny little feisty kitten..." Richie comments, once again teasing him for his height with a small chuckle, and he pokes Eddie's forehead.

"...oh...ha ha more small jokes..." Eddie says faking annoyance, swatting at the finger that Richie was using to poke him in the forehead. Eddie didn't know why Richie kept insisting on pointing out his small height, but in a way he kinda did because of last night. But Eddie didn't mind now, even though he was still deathly afraid of being eaten again.

"I only speak the truth, Eddie spaghetti!! You're so small!!!" He exclaims, poking Eddie's forehead again, before fluffing up his hair again. "Really though, I didn't know so much adorableness could fit in someone so tiny!!" He jokes, grinning at him.

"...but..I'm not adorable..." Eddie says softly, swatting at Richie's hand again, especially after ruffling his hair and calling him adorable. Because Eddie knew he was short, but he also knew damn sure that he wasn't adorable.

"Aww, you are though!! You're so cute I could just eat you up-!" Richie jokes, but he freezes once he realizes what he'd just said. "Wait- Shit, I didn't mean it like that..." He mumbles, hoping Eddie didn't take it the wrong way.

"...yea I know you've told me..." Eddie says jokingly, seeing that Richie was freaking out about his slip up, not wanting a repeat of last night even if he was scared of Richie eating him again or just getting eaten in general. Eddie didn't want Richie to feel like he had to walk on eggshells around him, because they were friends, and friends didn't want other friends to feel like that.

Richie slowly relaxes again once he sees that Eddie wasn't scared, and his purring increases in volume again, now calm once more, he nuzzles into Eddie's hair again, enjoying the mix of the strawberry shampoo scent and Eddie's natural vanilla scent.

Eddie was glad that Richie stopped freaking out then went back to purring and nuzzling him. Which meant Eddie did something right, and that made Eddie happy that Richie was happy again. Eddie also noticed that Richie's purring was louder this time, so that made him feel even better.

Richie lays there, purring loudly with Eddie on top of him, and he was so comfortable he slowly began to fall asleep again, but he fought to stay awake, wanting to cuddle with Eddie more first.

Eddie notices that Richie's starting to fall asleep, so he chuckles a bit, thinking that Richie was the one that was adorable. Eddie looks up at Richie from where he was laying on his chest, seeing the sleeping look on his face, causing Eddie to chuckle a little more before starting to drift off to sleep himself. Well, it looks like they were both going to take another cuddle induced nap.

Richie falls asleep first, going limp, but still purring very loudly and keeping his arms wrapped around Eddie's waist, even while he sleeps.

Eddie fell asleep a couple minutes after Richie, feeling the most cared for he has in a long time while wrapped in his arms and hearing him purr. Eddie was glad that they were both back to their 'normal' behavior. Because Eddie didn't know if he could handle it if Richie never wanted to cuddle him again.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie breaks his promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities, Richie breaks his promise to Eddie.

When Richie woke up, he found Eddie still on top of him, his face nuzzled into his chest, and he smiles softly, glad he wasn't scared of him anymore. He stays there, not wanting to wake Eddie up to move, so he starts purring again, enjoying the closeness and warmth. 

Eddie woke up an hour after Richie, again. He sleepily looked up at him, only to see he had a goofy grin and was already looking down at him before he awoke. To that Eddie stretched out a little bit, but only enough to let some of his bones snap, crackle, pop. Because Eddie still wanted to lay here and soak up the attention Richie was giving him.

"Hello spaghetti head Ed." Richie jokes, booping Eddie's nose, and purring harder, before tightening his arms around Eddie's waist.

Eddie squirms a little bit when Richie boops his nose, but stops when he tightens his hold on him and starts purring harder, Eddie guesses he's excited that he's awake again. But Eddie's happy too so he reaches up and boops Richie's nose too, but instead of one quick little boop, Eddie holds his finger on Richie's nose just to be a little shit.

Richie crosses his eyes to look at Eddie's finger, before he smirks at him and tilts his head up, sticking his tongue out and licking Eddie's finger.

Eddie's eyes widen, but him being a little shit and wanting to be brave, keeps his finger there on Richie's tongue. Hoping like hell that he didn't just start the process of his worst fear coming true again.

Richie raises his eyebrows in surprise, as he'd expected Eddie to screech in disgust and pull away, but he was definitely going to take advantage of the chance to taste him more, so he curls his tongue around his finger a little, lapping at the sweet vanilla taste he just couldn't get enough of.

Eddie starts mentally panicking when Richie wrapped his tongue around his finger, now afraid that Richie's just going to eat him again right then and there. But Eddie didn't want to be afraid of him either, so he doesn't move a muscle and keeps his finger right where it was, hoping like hell he wasn't going to get eaten again today.

Richie continues licking at Eddie's finger, eventually starting to work his way to Eddie's hand, dragging his tongue over his skin, careful not to get his teeth too close though. His body finally seemed to register the taste, and his stomach gurgles loudly, rumbling underneath Eddie, growling and churning with want. But Richie wasn't going to give into it, he wasn't going to break his promise, so instead of eating him again, he just continued licking Eddie's hand.

Eddie wanted to yank his hand away, after he heard Richie's stomach growl. But he didn't, he wanted to be brave and a good friend, and he wasn't going to let some stupid phobia of being eaten stop him. So he kept his hand where it was and allowed Richie to lick it all he wanted.

Richie begins purring even harder, very much enjoying the taste, and the amount of trust Eddie was showing. His stomach continues rumbling and growling, begging for him to eat him, but he continues ignoring it, indulging in the taste as much as he could for now. He hums, closing his eyes and continuing to lick Eddie's hand, occasionally sucking on some of the skin. His taste was almost addictive to him, it was so good. He pushes his head forward a little, engulfing a few of Eddie's fingers into his mouth, and he yelps in surprise when they hit the back of his throat, but Richie desperately wanted to swallow him whole. But he couldn't, because he didn't want to break Eddie's trust, nor could he even do it at his current size.

Eddie almost screamed when Richie put a couple of fingers in his mouth, continuing to lick Eddie's hand, because he could now feel the inside of Richie's mouth, and his fingers were nearly in his throat. But Eddie refused to scream, because he trusted Richie phobia or no phobia, so he was going to be brave and be a good friend and let this happen without hurting Richie's feelings or giving into his fear.

Richie swallows around Eddie's fingers, letting out a pleased hum, and he finally opens his eyes again, looking at Eddie with his eyes glazed over and pupils dilated. There was a little bit of his own spit dribbling down his chin, but Richie couldn't bring himself to care, not when he was enjoying this so much.

Eddie feels as Richie swallows around his fingers and hand. So he looks down only to find to his absolute horror that Richie has the same look he had while eating criminals on his face. This is when Eddie realized that he had fucked up allowing Richie to lick his hand, that his worst fear and only phobia was coming true. Again.Richie was eating him. Again.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's phobia kicks in full force

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities.

Richie closes his eyes again, once again humming contently. Wait. Was it just his mind playing tricks on him, or was Eddie's hand getting smaller in his mouth? Opening his eyes again, Richie freezes once he realizes, no, he was getting bigger. Thankfully he was only taller by about eight feet, so he stopped at that, relaxing again, and going back to licking Eddie's hand like a happy puppy, unaware of his fear and terror.

Eddie watched as Richie grew bigger, causing him to be more horrified, and try to squirm away. But Eddie knew that Richie wasn't going to just let him go. Because even if he did squirm out of Richie's grasp and run, Richie would just hunt him down like a wild animal, so there was nothing he could do but let his fear and phobia happen and let Richie eat him again.

Richie swallows by reflex when Eddie tries to pull his hand away, causing at least half of his arm to disappear down his throat, and he chokes for a moment, trying to spit Eddie's arm back out. He really didn't want to break his promise, but at this point it was either choke to death or finish eating him, and Richie would much rather have the latter. So he looks at Eddie, eyes filled with regret for what he was about to do, and he swallows once more.

After Richie swallows half of his arms, Eddie starts begging ".... please Richie.... please don't eat me!..." His voice was barely a whisper from how scared he was. Richie was eating him and there was nothing he could do about it but just let it happen and hope like hell Richie wasn't lying about not hurting him like he did the criminals he ate. Because even though Richie was in the process of eating him again, Eddie still trusted him.

Richie, unable to respond, looks up at him sorrowfully, before swallowing again. He really didn't want to do this, but he didn't really have a choice at this point, so he continues swallowing. He hated that it felt so good to have him squirming down his throat, he hated that his stomach was gurgling eagerly for him, he hated everything about it.

Eddie started squirming wildly as Richie swallowed him down to his middle, his phobia winning over him. Like Eddie still trusted Richie but he was just too scared to not react to it, so the more Richie swallowed him, the more Eddie squirmed. He really hopes that he wasn't hurting Richie in his fearful reactions.

Richie let out a pleased hum at the squirming, the fighting and struggling he was doing wasn't hurting him, instead feeling really good. He felt horrible for enjoying this so much, but he couldn't help it, Eddie tasted so good, and his squirming only made his stomach gurgle and growl more. Tilting his head back, he swallows more, slurping Eddie's legs up hungrily, and pushing down on Eddie's feet a little, shoving him down his throat a little quicker. Finally being able to close his mouth, he swallows a few more times, gulping down Eddie's legs, and he huffs, unable to breathe as Eddie passes through his esophagus behind his ribcage, the current size difference not exactly being enough for him to pass through easily.

Eddie squirms wildly all the way as he slowly slides down Richie's gullet. When Eddie got squelched into Richie's gut, he squirmed, flopped around, and stretched out, still moving around fearfully in the confines of the warm and squishy flesh of Richie's belly. Eddie then just stopped squirming and curled up in a ball, a few sobs coming out. Just like before. Because like he stated earlier, he still trusted Richie, but his phobia of being eaten was just too powerful to fight off.

Richie feels Eddie get squeezed into his stomach, a medium sized bump showing on his middle, and he sighs, feeling Eddie start struggling and pushing at him, and he watches from the outside as he stretched his stomach out, before finally feeling him go still. His heart nearly breaks when he hears and feels Eddie start crying, and he gently rubs his belly in an attempt to sooth him. "Shhh... it's okay, you're safe, just relax... I'm not gonna hurt you, just breathe..." He says softly, trying to calm him down, feeling horrible for what he'd just done. He gave in to his instincts again, but at what cost.

"..B-but....i-i-I'm... scared.." Eddie manages to stutter out through his sobs. He stays curled up in the fleshy walls that kept moving around him. Eddie did still trust Richie even though he was currently in a place where no one would associate it with trust or safety, but that's what Eddie wanted to do is trust Richie and feel safe around or well, in him. 

Richie's eyes widen "Oh shit, fuck, I'm so fucking sorry..." He says, moving both of his hands to his belly now, and he presses down where Eddie's back is, rubbing small circles in that area. "I'm so sorry... I didn't really mean to do this... you just taste so good, and I swallowed by accident, a-and at that point it was either me choking to death or... this..." He explains quietly, his stomach gurgling and rumbling softly.

"....i-It...it's... okay...at least... you're okay...... and I think... i-i-I'm fine..." Eddie says, calming down a little bit when he felt Richie rubbing at his back, but he was still afraid. He felt like utter shit for making Richie feel bad again, even though he was in his belly and it was moving, gurgling and groaning around him. Winch still terrified him, but he wanted to be brave and get over his phobia/fear, and to do that he would probably have to be in Richie's belly more than just this one time. Eddie decides here and now that he would be okay with that, but once he gets used to the organ surrounding him.

Richie feels Eddie relax into him, and he sighs in relief, glad Eddie wasn't terrified of him or angry with him. Slowly, he gets off the couch, holding his belly so he doesn't jostle Eddie around inside too much. Everything was smaller now, since he'd grown bigger, so he sort of has to duck through the doorway to go to his bedroom. He lays down on the bed, once again moving slowly so Eddie has time to adjust his position, he hears the mattress creak underneath him, much louder than usual due to his current size, but he ignores it, knowing that the bed would hold him. He goes back to gently massaging his stomach, feeling where Eddie's back and head were and focusing on rubbing those areas.

Eddie feels as Richie moves around and lays down again, then starts massaging him through his belly flesh. When Eddie feels Richie do this, he makes a big decision and leans into Richie's touch, still liking the attention and affection, even if he was in his belly. Eddie suddenly pipes up and hesitantly says "...i-I don't want to be afraid of this anymore...so i-if you want to do this again...y-you can....I want you to help me g-get over my phobia...only if you want to..."

"Wait... really...?" Richie asks in surprise, happy that Eddie was accepting his affection, but he was also surprised Eddie was willing to trust him that much. "I mean, sure, if that's what you want..." He says quietly, still baffled that Eddie trusted him so much. "...you taste really good by the way..." He adds, knowing he'd said it before, but he didn't think Eddie understood just how delicious he was.

"...yea...so I've been told...'' Eddie also says again chuckling, to him even though it was still a little scary, Richie's belly was actually really... comfortable, like it was soft and squishy, and it was just gently cradling him, not hurting him at all. So Eddie reaches out and curiously pokes one of the walls surrounding him, hearing the organ gurgle and rumbling all around him, winch causes him to flinch but then poke the wall again.

Richie chuckles, feeling Eddie poking and prodding around his insides, and he uses a hand to gently press back at him. "Feel free to explore, I don't mind." He says, giving Eddie permission to basically do whatever the hell he wanted, since nothing could really hurt Richie from the inside anyway.

Eddie smiles when Richie presses back at him and gives him the go ahead to explore, so Eddie just keeps poking the walls around him, getting amused when it would cause Richie's stomach to growl or gurgle. Eddie was now starting to be okay with the fact that he was in Richie's belly, because really it wasn't so bad. But like he told Richie, he would still need his help to get completely comfortable and used to be in his stomach.

Richie hums, and he begins purring again, enjoying the squirming and prodding Eddie was doing. "...It's the first time I've had someone willing... normally it's just criminals that try to beat the Shit out of me from the inside..." He comments, rubbing back at Eddie's hands through the flesh of his belly.

"...oh....well I would never hurt you..." Eddie says softly, continuing to poke and feel of Richie's stomach walls, being kinda fascinated by the softness of it. Eddie heard that Richie had started purring again, winch meant he was back to be happy again, but Eddie asks curiously "....so why did you want to eat me?....I mean I know you said to keep me warm and safe ...but is that the only reason?..."

"Well... I do wanna keep you close, warm, and safe... but ever since you got beat up, I wanted to protect you... a-and nobody can get to you if you're, uh, inside me..." Richie explains awkwardly, blushing a little, and he continues rubbing back at his belly, enjoying all the squirming and movement Eddie was doing, even if it wasn't a whole lot.

"... but...why?......I'm not important..." Eddie asks, whispering out the last part, squirming and moving around a bit to get more comfortable, before finally settling back down, still enjoying the rubbing at him Richie was doing through the soft walls of his belly.

"...you're important to me..." Richie says softly, purring harder at the small movements Eddie made, and he wraps his arms around his middle, cradling it gently


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie confess something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities, awkwardness.

"...but why?..." Eddie asks, hoping that he's not getting on Richie's nerves, especially after hearing him purring louder. But then Eddie feels Richie gently cradling him and his belly, and then suddenly he feels cared about again, like he did when him and Richie were cuddling on the couch. Eddie really hopes he didn't ruin Richie's mood.

"Because you're my only friend and my best friend, you dork." Richie says, giving his gut a gentle squeeze, and continuing to purr, all the while rubbing his belly.

Eddie playfully pushes at the walls of Richie's belly when Richie squeezes his belly, hearing as he continues to rub his belly and purr loudly, but Eddie was still in an odd/low mood so he asks "... But why though....I'm just... Eddie Kaspbrak....a low life Derry cop/detective?...." Wanting to know the whole reason Richie's keeping him around and safe in his belly.

"Because I like you!" He blurts, slapping a hand over his mouth once he realizes what he'd said, and he hopes Eddie thinks he meant something different. He did have to admit though, he'd had a crush on the little detective for a while, finding him friendly and fun to be around.

"...oh....uh... okay" Eddie says softly, not expecting Richie to drop that big of a bomb on him, Eddie would have never ever thought that Richie, The Criminal Eater would LIKE him, like love him, like him. Because honestly Eddie thought of himself as unlovable. But if Eddie was being completely honest with himself he did kinda have a small crush on Richie too.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, you probably don't even like guys... and sorry for, like, dropping that on you just now, I probably just made it really awkward, with you being, y'know, in me right now..." He says, fumbling with his words, now embarrassed.

"....no...I do like guys..... and it's not awkward... because I like you too...." Eddie says softly, deciding to not hide his feelings from Richie. Eddie knows that this could either completely ruin or better the way they already act around each other, so Eddie hopes that Richie takes him revealing his feelings in a good way, especially since he just got comfortable in Richie's belly.

"....really....?" Richie asks, not really sure how anyone could like him in that sense, especially once they discovered his eating habits, and even more so when said person was literally inside of his stomach. "...Are-are you serious...? ...You're not just fucking with me...?" He asks, unsure if Eddie was messing with him or not.

"....no... Richie...I'm not fucking with you...I like you back....I.. just don't know why or how you could like me..." Eddie says softly but seriously, frowning noticing that Richie stopped purring and rubbing his belly. And Eddie didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing, considering that he was still in Richie's belly, but was just now starting to like being surrounded by the organ and it's soft and squishy walls.

"I just do, okay? I like everything about you... taste included." Richie says, chuckling a little when he added the last part, and patting his stomach for emphasis on what he meant.

"...oh of course you like that...I'm literally in your gut as we speak!!.." Eddie exclaims regaining his playful tone and fake annoyance. Pushing back at Richie's hand when he pats at him through his belly walls, chuckling as he did so.

Richie watches from the outside as Eddie pushes at him, seeing a small bump appear on his middle, and he chuckles. "Yeah... not so freaked out about someone moving inside me if it's you in my gut, huh?" He jokes, pressing down on his stomach, and giving Eddie a tight squeeze.

"...well...I can't see it you asshole!..." Eddie says in another fake annoyed tone, pushing at Richie's stomach wall again after Richie pushes on his stomach, causing the organ to squeeze Eddie from all around him. This also made Eddie playfully squirm around, poking various squishy walls surrounding him in retaliation.

Richie hums as Eddie squirms, enjoying the feeling of him moving, beginning to purr again while his stomach gurgled and groaned at the sudden activity. "Y'know...This feels nice..." He says softly, watching from the outside as Eddie moved around.

Eddie hears as Richie's purring starts up, causing him to smile knowing that Richie was happy again, then hears Richie's comment on his squirming so he curiously asks ".... your... stomach is really sensitive...isn't it?..." Stopping his movements for now as he was comfortable in the position he was in.

"...Mhm..." Richie hums, slightly disappointed at the squirming lessening, but he didn't say anything about it, instead just continuing to purr loudly.

Eddie hears Richie's hum of agreement, even through his loud purring, but then Eddie nervously asks "... uhh...are we still going to catch tonight's case...or no...I mean we don't have to... especially since I'm in your stomach?..." gently patting the soft wall beside him for the first time since he swallowed down into squishy cavern.

"We still can if you want... and I can let you out right now if you wanna get ready...?" Richie offers, not really caring if they went on another case right now, especially since he still had two criminals in a jar that he could regrow to normal size if he wanted a meal.

"... what if I don't want to come out?....well you're probably going to kick me out anyway... right? " Eddie asks curiously but hesitantly, not really wanting to get thrown up out of Richie's belly just yet, especially since he just got comfortable with being in here and was sorta already getting over his phobia of being eaten.... since he was kinda already eaten alive and in Richie's stomach, safe and warm like he promised it would be.

"Oh hell no! If you wanna stay that's fine with me, I'm not gonna complain about it." Richie says, basically giving Eddie the okay to stay as long as he wanted. Besides, he liked feeling full anyway.

"... okay...cool...I guess..." Eddie says happily, glad that Richie wasn't going to kick him out of his belly, because if Eddie was really being honest he kinda liked it in here and regretted ever being afraid of being put in here. Then again, it was a stomach and Richie did have to eat him to get him in here, so that had a lot to do with why he was afraid in the first place. Especially since his severe phobia.

Richie hums, slowly turning onto his side to curl around his belly, the mattress creaking again at the movement. Resting his head on one of his arms while the other was wrapped around his middle, he starts rubbing at Eddie again, feeling every little thing he did.

Eddie feels as Richie moves to his side, mainly because it sloshed him around Richie's belly a little bit. Meaning Eddie had to squirm around to get comfortable again, also feeling as Richie wrapped his arm around his belly and was rubbing at Eddie again through the flesh walls. But Eddie curiously asks again "...so do you still want to catch tonight's case... with me in here?..." Not really getting a clear answer earlier but kind of wanting one so he could prepare for what to expect.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie prepare to go on another case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities.

"Oh, sure, if you don't mind it at least." Richie says, letting out a pleased hum at Eddie's squirming, and he presses down on his stomach a little more in hopes of getting him to wriggle around more.

"...no...I don't mind it..." Eddie says softly, feeling as Richie pushes down on him from the outside, causing Eddie to squirm in annoyance whilst poking Richie's stomach walls in retaliation once again, saying "... you're just doing that to annoy me and to get me to wiggle around..." Knowing he was probably right.

"Edddsss... I can't help iiittt.... it feels niiiiiiiice..." Richie whines dramatically, pressing down on his stomach even more at Eddie's poking and squirming, beginning to purr harder at the feeling.

" of course it does to you...you big goof..." Eddie says jokingly, faking annoyance again, feeling as Richie pressed on his belly more, causing the soft walls surrounding Eddie to cave in, squishing him a little bit. But Eddie didn't squirm. Nope, what he was just kept poking at where Richie was pressing down at, just to be a little asshole.

"So you wanna poke me huh?" Richie asks, suddenly pressing down on his stomach much harder than before, squeezing Eddie inside tightly while chuckling.

Eddie didn't really like when Richie did that, it scared him a lot to be in such a tight squeeze and have no power to stop it. So he goes completely still and stops poking Richie's stomach walls where he was pressing down at, hoping like hell that Richie would let him out of the tightness, especially since Eddie still wasn't all the way used to being in Richie's gut at the moment.

Richie releases Eddie at his sudden stillness, not really knowing what that meant, or whether it was good or bad, so he removes some of the pressure from his stomach. He still kept a hand on his belly though, very gently pressing down on it still.

Eddie feels as Richie releases the tightness of his stomach walls, but Eddie waits a couple of minutes before he experimentally pokes Richie's stomach wall that he was pressing on. Hoping that Richie didn't squish him again like that, because it really scared him.

Richie chuckles at the sudden poke, seeing that Eddie wasn't going to let up on his poking any time soon. "Just use your whole hand dammit, stop poking me." He says playfully, chuckling again.

"... sorry..." Eddie says quietly, but chuckles a little bit too, before this time experimentally pushing onto the stomach wall that Richie had his hand pressed down on from the outside, with his whole hand. Eddie does this several times before finally just leaving Richie's belly walls alone for now. Laying back against one of the walls, waiting for Richie to get up and start their case, whilst gently cradling Eddie in his belly.

Richie stays like that for a bit, before he finally sits up. "Hang on, if I'm gonna go on a case with you in there, I'm gonna have to be normal size... so don't worry if you start getting smaller, okay?" He says, wanting to warn Eddie in advance so he doesn't freak out.

"...um okay..." Eddie says softly, glad that Richie warned him about him getting smaller when Richie changed his size like earlier, so Eddie braces himself when he feels Richie get up off the bed.

Richie focuses on Eddie's size, feeling the man inside growing smaller, and the roundness of his stomach disappearing, before he focuses on making himself normal size, the bump reappearing in his middle, but not as large as it was before. Richie then stretches, his back popping loudly, and he sighs, pressing on his belly again. "There... you alright?" He asks, wanting to check and make sure Eddie was alright before he did anything else.

Eddie cringes as he here's Richie's back pop right behind him, feeling Richie press on his belly where Eddie was, asking if he was alright. To that Eddie answers "... Yep!..." Before gently pressing back at Richie's hand, showing as well as telling Richie that he was fine and ready to go on this case with him.

Richie smiles at the small hand pressing back at him, and he walks out of the bedroom to the living room, searching for his jacket and keys, all the while keeping a hand on his belly.

Eddie feels as Richie walks around his apartment, gathering some things before he heads out, feeling as Richie kept his hand on his belly almost like he was still cradling Eddie and cuddling him at the same time.

Richie heads out the door, locking his apartment behind him, and getting in his car, deciding to wait before he started it. "I'm gonna need you to direct me, I have no idea where I'm going." He says, patting his stomach lightly.

"...uh it's another place just outside of Derry's outskirts...the small house beyond the barrens..." Eddie says informatively, hoping that would be enough info to get him and Richie to the criminal that they were supposed to be catching. Eddie pats back at Richie's hand after he patted the stomach wall above him.

"Alright then, bitch-ass motherfucker, here we come." Richie says with a chuckle, starting his car, and pulling out of the driveway, speeding down the road with a hand over his stomach protectively.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie go on the case.

Eddie laughs when Richie says this, because he was basically thinking the same thing. He hears as Richie speeds down the road, feeling as Richie had his hand over his belly, still cradling Eddie almost like he was trying to cuddle him while he was driving.

"You seem pretty okay with this now... I'm honestly surprised." Richie says, chuckling when the car hits a pothole and Eddie's weight bounces in his stomach.

"...well...I want to be okay with it..." Eddie says softly, squeaking as he was bounced and sloshed around in Richie's gut when he hit the pothole in the middle of the road with his car, pushing at Richie's hand when he hears him chuckling about how Eddie was bounced around.

Richie laughs even more at Eddie's small push, and he pats his stomach gently. "...well, that's good..like I said….I've never really had someone willing before... this is nice..." He says softly, now driving slower down the road.

"...is it really... even with how much of an asshole I've been?..." Eddie asks curiously, after hearing Richie laugh, feeling as Richie pats at him through his belly flesh again. Eddie still didn't know how Richie tolerates him, much less how he LIKES him and had a crush on him.

"Yeah... and you haven't been an asshole. You're a delightful twink, and a delicious little snack." He jokes, giving his belly another firm squeeze.

"... only to you... only to you man.." Eddie says softly, before squeaking again as Richie squeezes and squishes him, causing him to squirm a little bit, before poking one of Richie's stomach walls, saying "... see...i..am an asshole..."

"You're gonna have to try harder than that to be an asshole to me, Eds." He says, humming in delight at the small movement.

".... but I have the whole time... you've known me....I still don't even know how you could like me..." Eddie says quietly, not squirming any more, being settled back down in the wall he was up against earlier.

"Oh stop with that bullshit, you're not an asshole and I like you, that's that. Does there have to be a reason?" Richie says, moving his hand to where Eddie was leaning.

"I'm sorry..." Eddie says softly and quietly, not saying anything other than that, feeling as Richie put his hand where was laying. Eddie wasn't sure if he'd finally pissed Richie off or not, but he kinda didn't want to find out.

"Hey, no, don't apologize, I'm just saying... not everything needs a reason, y'know?" Richie says, gently pressing on his gut again, wanting to comfort Eddie so he knew he wasn't upset with him.

"... okay ... sorry... I'm just used to it..." Eddie says quietly, feeling as Richie gently pressed at him, trying to comfort him. Now understanding that Richie wasn't mad at him that he just wanted to like Eddie without a reason. And Eddie was okay with that, he just had to get used to it.

"...how often do you apologize...? On a daily basis, I mean..." Richie asks, holding his belly as he turned onto a gravel road, feeling Eddie starting to get tossed and bounced around inside. Well, it's not like he could get hurt in there, so Richie decided not to worry about it too much.

".......a..lot..." Eddie says hesitantly, feeling Richie holding his belly, but Eddie was still bouncing around in the squishy confines of Richie's belly, so he assumes that they must be on a gravel or dirt road, so he didn't care that he was bounced around, because there was nothing Richie could do to prevent it.

Richie sighs, knowing he'd have to bring that back up to Eddie later, but for right now he just hums, and continues holding his gut. Suddenly letting out a small burp, he blushes in embarrassment, the bouncing of the road probably knocking some air loose.

"... sorry.." Eddie apologizes, knowing that him bouncing around Richie's gut like a fucking bouncy house is what caused Richie to burp, and hat Richie was probably be embarrassed, even though he was still happily humming and basically hugging his belly with one arm, because he is driving.

"No, it's not your fault, Eds..." Richie says, burping again a few minutes later, but this time he just sighs, it couldn't really be helped, so he'd just have to deal with it for now.

" ... okay..." Eddie says softly, still being bounced around Richie's belly, causing him to burp again, and it was probably going to cause Richie to burp several more times, so Eddie just stays quiet and tries his best not to apologise for every time.

Richie burps a few more times, before they finally pull up to the old house, Richie turning the car off and sitting there for a minute, not exactly wanting to do anything just yet. "We're here... you ready? It might get a little crazy out here, so... you might have a bit of a bumpy ride. As in, more than the one you just had." Richie says, joking slightly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"... okay...I'm ready for whatever you are..." Eddie replies, gently patting the wall beside him, hearing the organ around him to gurgle in response to it, causing Eddie to chuckle a little bit at the sound.

Richie chuckles a little as well, pressing back at Eddie's hand, before climbing out of the car, cautiously looking around the area as he approaches the home, keeping an arm over his stomach out of protective instinct.

Eddie felt as Richie got out of the car and started walking around, feeling that Richie was still holding his belly, but it was almost not noticeable. Eddie moves around a bit and gets comfortable again for now, bracing himself for whatever may happen.

Richie walks around the property for a bit, looking behind him every once in a while as well, before he finally has the area clear and the only place left to check is inside the house. He slowly opens the door, sighing in relief when it doesn't creak, and he walks inside, now very tense.

Eddie doesn't move at all as Richie walks around searching the perimeter, staying completely still so he doesn't distract Richie from his mission to find the criminal they were here to catch, when Richie walks into the house, Eddie can tell how tense he is by the way that his stomach walls were tightened up around him, but they weren't tight enough to scare Eddie, if anything it made him feel more secure.

Richie cautiously opens another door, seeing the criminal in question on the couch watching TV, and he creeps up behind him, careful not to alert him that he was here. He knew since he had Eddie inside though, he couldn't rip and tear the guy apart, but he could shrink the guy and take him home to eat later. So, he grabs the man in a chokehold from behind, and pulls him over the back of the couch. He ends up wrestling with the man on the floor for a few minutes, being slightly concerned with Eddie's weight bouncing around inside of him a lot, but he couldn't really focus on it too much at the moment. Finally managing to pin the guy down beneath him, he holds him down, focusing on the man's size.

Eddie feels as Richie moves really fast then becomes tense again, assuming that he caught the criminal. But then Eddie starts to get bounced around a squished in the fleshy cavern all over again, but it wasn't that bad the walls squeezing and surrounding him were very soft, so Eddie was fine with all of the movement Richie was doing.

Richie finally gets the guy down to five inches, and he holds him tightly in his fist. He wasn't holding the man tight enough for it to hurt, but there was definitely no way he could get away from him now. "Alright, I got him. We're going back to my place now." Richie says aloud, directing it at Eddie, but the man he was holding didn't know that, so he just looked confused.

"... alright...nice..." Eddie says excitedly, knowing that Richie wanting to go back home meant that he caught the criminal bastard. So Eddie gently pats the wall beside him, saying 'good job' without saying it, wanting Richie to feel good about his criminal catching skills, especially since he had Eddie tucked away in his belly.

Richie chuckles as the man's eyes widen in fear from hearing Eddie, and the man tries to pry himself out of Richie's grip, but fails miserably. Richie hums and relaxes at the small pat to his innards, and he presses back in response, before heading out of the house, still laughing a little at the criminals futile attempts to get away from him.

Eddie smiles when Richie pressed back at him, hearing him laughing at the criminal who was probably trying to escape Richie's grasp, but just to be sure he was right he curiously asks "... whatcha laughing at?..." Knowing him talking probably startled the criminal more than he already was, which was a good thing.

"God I wish you could see the look on this guy's face, it's fucking hilarious!!" Richie says, finally climbing back into his car, and he pushes the criminal down in the spare jar he'd brought with him.

"... really?..." Eddie says chuckling a little bit, feeling as Richie got back in his car and put the criminal in the jar he had grabbed. Eddie was glad that he was in Richie's belly, protectively tucked away from any aggressive criminals.

"Yeah, he looks like his eyes are about to pop out of his skull." Richie says, hearing and feeling Eddie chuckle, and he grabs his phone off the dashboard, taking a quick picture of the guys terrified face so he could show Eddie later, once he was out of his stomach.

Eddie laughs at how Richie described the way the guy was looking at him whenever Eddie spoke. He felt Richie move a little bit then take a picture with his phone, probably going to show him later Eddie guesses still chuckling a little bit. Eddie was now kinda glad that Richie had eaten him, even if it still messed with his phobia a good bit.

Eddie laughs at how Richie described the way the guy was looking at him whenever Eddie spoke. He felt Richie move a little bit then take a picture with his phone, probably going to show him later Eddie guesses still chuckling a little bit. Eddie was now kinda glad that Richie had eaten him, even if it still messed with his phobia a good bit.

Richie smiles, happy that he could make Eddie laugh, and he pats his belly again before starting his car, pulling out of the driveway to go back down the dirt and gravel road, knowing Eddie was going to get bounced around inside again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities, another criminal, Richie's excessive burping.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie comforts Eddie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia, Eddie's insecurities, the criminals.

Eddie feels as Richie pats his belly and starts his car, bracing himself to be bounced around Richie's belly when they get on the dirt/gravel road. He was glad that they were heading back to Richie's apartment, so they could maybe have some more belly cuddle time before Richie decided to spit him up and have normal cuddle time. Because whether Eddie wanted to admit it or not, he actually liked it in Richie's belly, even with his phobia. It was comfortable, warm, soft, and made Eddie feel secure and cared for.

Richie stayed silent the whole drive, except for the occasional stomach growl while they were on the gravel road, and he kept a hand over his stomach the entire drive, feeling like he wasn't 'holding' Eddie well enough if he didn't, even though he was literally inside of his stomach. Finally pulling into his driveway, he pats his stomach to signal that they were home, before he grabs the jar and climbs out of the car, looking around quickly to see if any neighbors were looking, since he really didn't want anyone to see exactly what he had in the jar.

Eddie feels as Richie pats his belly and gets out of his car, signaling that they were home, hearing as Richie went in his apartment and locked the door behind him, then walking to his kitchen, where he could still hear the two criminals from earlier screaming, even though all of the flesh and muscles of Richie's stomach.

Richie smirks at the two other criminals banging on the side of the jar, desperately trying to get out, and he unscrews the lids off of both the jars. "Little bitch number one and little bitch number two, say hello to little bitch number three." He says, chuckling, grabbing the newly caught criminal from his jar and dropping him down into the same jar as the other two, before screwing the lid back on.

Eddie chuckles at Richie's nicknames for the criminals, hearing as he put 'little bitch number three' in the same jar as the other two little bitches. Eddie was still glad that he was safe and secure in Richie's belly away from those three evil bastards

Richie then walks out of the kitchen, leaving the three criminals in the kitchen, and he walks to his bedroom, laying down on the bed and gently kneading at his belly. "...And there we go, all taken care of..." Richie says, chuckling slightly at the fact he could still hear the three men screaming faintly.

Eddie feels as Richie walks out of the kitchen to his room and flops back down on his bed again, hearing him chuckling at the screaming of the three criminals in the jar in the kitchen. Eddie squirms a bit snuggling into one of the soft walls surrounding him, hoping Richie doesn't mind him cuddling into his innards.

Richie begins purring again at Eddie snuggling into him, feeling calm and content with the current position, and he wraps his arms around his gut again. "Comfortable?" He asks jokingly, gently poking where Eddie's head was.

Eddie hears Richie's purring start again, then he hears Richie ask if he's comfortable, and to that Eddie happily replies "...yes actually I really am!..." poking back at Richie after he gently poked Eddie in the head.

"...yea..." Eddie says softly, still hoping Richie was okay with him being curled up, continuing to snuggle into the squishiness that surrounded him and was gently encasing him safely inside of Richie.

"Oh... well, that's new..." Richie says quietly, before smiling softly and purring harder, very much enjoying this new kind of cuddling.

"... yeah I guess.... since I'm the first one to like being here...right?..." Eddie asks curiously, smiling as he heard Richie's purring get louder and more intense. Eddie also very much enjoyed this version of cuddling too, because it was soft, warm, and cozy, Eddie liked that. Now Richie's belly wasn't even that scary anymore, mainly because the reasons listed above.

"Yeah... and only the second time I've actually talked to someone while they're inside too. All the other times... they're almost always too scared to respond. When they do though they're usually cussing me out." Richie says with a small chuckle, gently tracing Eddie's outline underneath his skin with a finger.

"...yea I heard earlier... when those two assholes were in here..." Eddie says softly, feeling Richie trace the outline of his body with his finger through the outside of the soft squishiness of his belly. Eddie smiled and continued to cuddle into the walls surrounding him.

"Yeah... it was kinda funny to hear them screaming nothing but swear words... it was like they were trying to cuss me to death." Richie says, chuckling, and tracing over Eddie's shoulders lightly, before moving his fingers back down where he could feel his arm.

"... yeah..." Eddie says softly chuckling a little bit. Eddie could still feel Richie tracing over him, so he reaches up and lightly pokes at the finger that was currently at his shoulder again.

Richie chuckles at the small poke, his stomach gurgling and groaning at the action, which only made him laugh more. "Why do you like poking me so much?" He asks jokingly, lightly drumming his fingers on the side of his belly lightly.

Eddie hears as Richie's stomach gurgles when he pokes Richie's finger through the stomach wall, also hearing as Richie laughs at his organs response to Eddie's poke before asking why he likes poking him, feeling as Richie drums his fingers on his belly next to Eddie. The only way Eddie knows how to respond to that is softly saying "...I don't know... it's just fun and a way to show I'm still awake....but I can stop if you want me to...."

"No no, it's fine, you can do whatever you want in there, it doesn't bother me at all." Richie says quickly, not wanting Eddie to feel limited, since he was being honest and it really didn't bother him.

"...I thought it did......sorry for poking you so much..." Eddie says softly, hoping Richie doesn't get upset at him for apologising like earlier. Eddie didn't want to mess up their cuddle time, especially since he was just not truly comfy in Richie's belly, his phobia only at the way back of his mind for now.

"As I said, it's fine, you can poke me all you want..." Richie says, poking at the side of Eddie's head, somewhat near his face in an attempt to be annoying.

".... okay.... Sorry for apologising again...." Eddie says, poking back at Richie, trying to not be annoying too after Richie poked him in the head through his stomach wall.

Richie chuckles at the poke, his stomach once again growling at the action, and Richie decides to fuck around with Eddie some more. Placing his hands one the sides of his stomach, he gently shakes his belly, feeling Eddie get bounced around a little, and he laughs.

Eddie squeaks in surprise when Richie grabs his belly and starts gently shaking him around, making him bounce around a little bit in the squishy cavern surrounding him, Eddie hears Richie laugh after he does this, causing him to also chuckle a little bit, because he loved Richie's goofy playfulness.

Richie laughs even harder at Eddie's small squeak, so he shakes his belly again, glad they were back to their normal playfulness. Well, as normal as it could get with Eddie being literally inside of him right now.

Eddie continues chuckling when Richie shakes his belly again, being bounced around the squishiness confining him, also happy their normal playfulness has returned, poking Richie's stomach walls as he is bounced around.

Richie smiles at Eddie's laughter, and he finally lets up on the shaking, his stomach suddenly growling excessively from shaking his stomach so much. "Uh, oops..." He says awkwardly, chuckling a little at his own embarrassment, and it growls again, quieter this time.

Eddie chuckles louder at the bigger growl the organ let out, also hearing the smaller one but paying it no mind. Then Eddie thinks of something, he gently puts his hand on one of Richie's stomach walls, and starts to rub it, starting to give Richie internal belly rubs, hearing said man still purring.

Richie freezes for a moment, confused and unused to the sensation inside, but he quickly relaxes again, purring even harder and humming contently. "... Eds, whatever you're doing, please don't stop..." He mumbles, closing his eyes and practically melting into the belly rubs like a dog would.

"... o-okay..." Eddie says chuckling softly at Richie's reaction to the belly rubs, so Eddie listened to him and continued to rub the soft walls surrounding him, feeling as Richie melted into the gentle contact, hearing as the man's purring raised to a intense level, but it didn't bother Eddie, he was happy and still cuddling Richie's belly walls.

"...That feels good... this is better than having someone squirming, wow..." Richie says quietly, a little amazed from being somewhat overwhelmed, and he felt like he was getting an extreme back massage, but instead on the inside.

"Yeah…. and I thought someone squirming around a lot was like an internal massage, but that? That's actually one..." Richie says, feeling Eddie relax into his innards, and he lets out a pleased hum, pressing down on his stomach and chuckling when it gurgled loudly.

Eddie feels as Richie pushes down on his stomach, causing it to gurgle around him. With that Eddie stops the belly rubs and pokes the stomach wall where Richie pressed at after hearing him chuckling, also laughing a bit and just feeling like being silly, because Richie was.

Richie was a little disappointed by sudden loss of belly rubs, but he pokes back at Eddie anyway, joining in on Eddie's laughter, and he smiles softly.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie both show their playful side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of: Vore, Eddie's phobia and insecurities.

Eddie now pokes back at Richie with both hands whilst still laughing, he was really starting to enjoy the whole being inside of Richie's belly thing, even though this is his second time in here. Eddie had almost forgotten about his phobia at this point, especially since it was Richie, he loved Richie.

Richie laughs harder at Eddie poking him with both hands, and he shakes his belly again out of retaliation, once again feeling Eddie bounce around, and he burped from the action, but it didn't bother him, not as long as he was making Eddie laugh.

Eddie laughs as Richie shakes his belly again, bouncing around the squishiness of the organ, still poking the walls as he bounced. Hearing Richie burp Eddie finally stopped poking his innards, relaxing and snuggling back into the squishy walls again.

"I'm surprised you enjoy this so much." Richie says after burping, gently massaging his stomach, the organ gurgling and growling underneath his hand as he rubbed it.

"....me too... considering... my phobia.......but I like it in here..." Eddie says softly, hearing Richie burp again, feeling as he was gently rubbing his belly above Eddie, now hearing as the cavern around him gurgles and growls. With that Eddie curls up again, but not in fear. Nope, this time he was just doing it because it was a comfortable position to lay in.

"Really?" Richie asks, raising an eyebrow, and tapping his stomach lightly. Eddie liked staying inside of him? Damn, he got over his phobia pretty quickly then.

"...yea....but I'm still going to need a couple of hundred times to completely get used to this..." Eddie says softly but nervously, feeling as Richie was lightly tapping his belly, Eddie only barely able to tell he was through the squishy soft flesh.

"That's fine, I'm just glad I can help you out with your phobia." Richie says, turning onto his side again to curl around his belly more.

".... yeah...me too.." Eddie says happily, feeling as Richie turns over, then curls around his belly and Eddie, whom was in his belly, causing the soft flesh around to squish him a little bit. Eddie really was happy that Richie could help him with his phobia, especially since they both liked/had crushes on each other.

Richie continues purring, suddenly feeling tired though, he taps his belly to get Eddie's attention. "You okay with staying in there while I sleep?" He asks, wanting to know if Eddie would rather come out when he went to bed or now.

"...yea....I was about to fall asleep anyway...." Eddie says, yawning after he did. Eddie stays curled up and starts to drift off to sleep first, softly saying "...g'night Richie..." Before finally falling asleep, yet again being lulled to sleep by Richie's rhythmic purring.

Richie stays awake long enough to feel Eddie fall asleep, feeling him go limp against his innards, and he smiles softly, before drifting off himself, purring the entire time


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie kisses Eddie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All triggers from chapters before.

Eddie actually wakes up first, squirming around a bit when he did, because at first he didn't recognize where he was. But then he suddenly remembered 'oh yeah I'm in Richie's stomach! He ate me last night' and stopped squirming hoping he didn't wake said man up. Hearing that Richie was still snoring above him made him sigh in relief, and relax like he did last night before he fell asleep.

Richie stayed asleep, but even then, his body still recognized the familiar feeling of someone squirming, and he curls around himself more, squishing his belly a little more.

Eddie feels as Richie curled around him even more in his sleep, still snoring like a fucking chainsaw, so that means that Eddie's still in the clear and that Richie didn't wake up, winch was a good thing, even if Richie was The Criminal Eater he still needed his beauty sleep.

Richie eventually stirred awake, feeling warm and full, and he pauses, wondering who he'd ate last night. Oh, wait. Eddie. He gently pushes down on his stomach, rubbing and kneading at it since he knew Eddie was already awake, mainly because of the way he was breathing.

Eddie feels as Richie stirs awake then presses on him through his soft stomach walls, starting to rub at him already, even though he hasn't even been awake for a minute. Eddie guesses that Richie already knew that he was awake, so he pokes where Richie's hand was pressed at.

Richie chuckles at the poke, still not completely awake, but he pokes back at his belly anyway, mumbling a small "...G'mornin..."

"... good morning... sleepy head..." Eddie says happily but softly, hearing that Richie wasn't all the way awake, feeling as gently he poked back at Eddie through his belly wall.

Richie chuckles and flops his head back onto his pillow, rolling onto his back and stretching, his back and neck popping loudly before he sighs, settling back into rubbing his stomach.

Eddie feels as Richie rolls onto his back, causing Eddie to slide around a little, cringing as he hears Richie's back and neck pop above and behind him. Then Eddie feels as Richie starts rubbing at his belly again, softly kneading at exactly where Eddie is laying at.

"You want out now...?" Richie asks tiredly, assuming Eddie would want to come out and stretch after being curled up in his stomach all night.

"...I guess so...if it isn't too much effort for you..." Eddie replies softly, not really wanting to leave the confines of Richie's belly just yet, but knew that Richie probably wanted him out of his gut, so he could see him or eat the three criminals, or maybe he was tired of cuddling Eddie, whatever it was he wasn't going to fuss about having to be spit back out.

"You don't sound too sure... you can stay if you want, but I'm not gonna force you out." Richie says, deciding to face Eddie's hesitation head on.

"...nah... you can let me out now..." Eddie says, kinda wanting to get out but also wanting stay in Richie's gut, it was really a fifty-fifty at the moment, but he just remembered that he would probably have to get back to being detective Eddie Kaspbrak soon and he didn't know if Richie wanted to continue on cases or not.

"Alright then... just hold still..." Richie says, sitting up in his bed, feeling Eddie get sloshed around a little at the sudden movement.

".. okay..." Eddie says softly, going completely motionless, but getting sloshed around as Richie sat up from his bed and prepared to let Eddie out of his belly.

Richie focuses on the weight in his stomach, using his hand to press down just below his belly, and he feels Eddie slowly getting pushed back up his esophagus, grunting at the strain of trying to breathe. Eventually Eddie's head pops back into his mouth, his shoulders and torso quickly following, and Richie reaches into his mouth, pulling Eddie out by the back of his shirt.

Eddie cringes as he sees the sunlight when Richie pulls him out of his mouth, back to the outside world again. Eddie suddenly looks up at Richie, who was gently holding him and already looking down at him with curious eyes.

Richie looks down at Eddie softly, chuckling a little at the saliva covering the man, and he attempts to wipe some of it away with the corner of his shirt.

Eddie frowns at Richie's chuckling about the slime covering him, but he let's Richie wipe some of it away without any protest, because honestly he was glad that he wanted to help Eddie clean off the slime at all, especially after using all of his effort to get him out of his belly.

Richie then holds Eddie to his chest, taking him to the kitchen to get a towel so he could properly wipe the slime off, chuckling when the three men in the jar started screaming at his sudden appearance.

Eddie sees them and flips all three criminals off. Because honestly he hated all fucking three of them, especially the one who held a gun to his head, so then he also chuckles at the way all of the dumbasses were screaming in fear at Richie's presence in the kitchen.

Richie laughs at Eddie giving them the bird, and he grabs a towel, carefully wrapping Eddie up in it, before once again holding him to his chest, opening his mouth and flashing his canines at the criminals before walking back into the living room, laughing when he hears them screech in terror.

Eddie cuddles up into the towel almost like he did in Richie's belly, laughing again when he hears the three criminals scream in fear again, happy that they were going back to the living room away from those three assholes. Once back in the living room, Eddie looks back up at Richie only to see him already smiling goofily down at him.

Richie pokes Eddie's chest, his finger taking up a good portion of it, and he then moves his fingers to Eddie's head, lightly ruffling his still damp hair.

Eddie brings one hand out of the towel and playfully swats at the finger that was ruffling his hair, already knowing he was no match for Richie at the size that he was, that if he annoyed him too much Richie would just gulp him down again.

Richie chuckles, and he lets Eddie push at his finger, holding it in place just to watch Eddie struggle to shove it away. God, Eddie was even cuter to him when he was this tiny... He loved it. He loved him.

Eddie gave up trying to shove Richie's finger away, slumping down knowing that he was too small and too weak to do it, that Richie was just holding his finger there either to playfully annoy him or to meanly show him that he was small and powerless.

Richie suddenly decides to make a daring move, and he lifts Eddie up a little, before giving him a kiss that took up his entire torso. He quickly pulls away afterwards, blushing slightly, and hoping he didn't just make things awkward.


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bois r kissing <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All warnings as before.

Eddie looks up in surprise after Richie kisses him and quickly pulls away, also blushing too. Eddie then smiles widely and kinda tears up at the fact that he just got his first kiss from Richie, after not knowing if he wanted to be anything other than friends for so long. He was also tearing up because this was the first time in years that he felt appreciated, cared for, and loved.

Richie begins to panic when he sees Eddie start crying, and he holds him to his chest again in an attempt to comfort him. "Shit shit shit, I'm sorry..." He mumbles.

"...no don't be....I liked that..." Eddie says softly, wiping the tears from his eyes and face, smiling at Richie's effort to comfort him, even though he wasn't sad or hurt.

"...Uh...can-can i kiss you a-again...?" Richie hesitantly asks, a little nervous to ask, and he was still blushing a little, but he looked down at Eddie with a small smile.

"...yes.. please do..." Eddie says softly, still blushing but also still smiling at the fact that Richie actually loved and cared about him, and actually wanted to kiss him again. So he looks up at Richie and gently braces himself for the next kiss.

Richie leans his head forward again, gently pressing his lips to Eddie's shoulder this time, and he begins purring again, but this time... it sounded a little different. Instead of the usual quick purring, he had a much slower and much deeper rumble than usual, and he stared at Eddie, complete lovestruck.

Eddie leans into the contact of Richie's lips to his shoulder, hearing the low purring that was coming from behind them. Eddie looks back up at Richie again seeing how he was looking at him like he was his whole world, and to that Eddie puts his arms on Richie's face, almost like a hug, his hands on both of his blushing cheeks.

Richie purrs even harder at the hug, his purr still being slow and deep, but it got much louder at Eddie's actions, and he kisses Eddie again, on his abdomen this time.

Eddie hears as Richie purrs louder at his hug, then he laughs giddily at the kiss Richie planted on his abdomen, mainly because it kinda tickled, but also because he was just that happy right now. Eddie loved Richie and Richie loved him back.

Richie begins crying from pure joy, and he smiles at Eddie's laugh, it sounded like music to him. He gently holds him to his chest again, tears streaming down his face, but he was laughing. For the first time in a long time, he had someone to care about, someone who he loved... and he loved him back.

Eddie looks up at Richie's face, seeing that he was also crying tears of joy and jokingly says "...heeeey no that's my thing..." Still laughing. Eddie would have never thought in a million years that The Criminal Eater would be in love with him, but here he was, tiny and being gently held and kissed by Richie.

Richie chuckles at that, leaning his head back down to kiss Eddie again to silence him, purring the hardest he had in years. He felt like he was dreaming, everything felt so good and right in the world.

Eddie was still laughing when Richie's lips covered his face, so wasn't really silencing him at all. But Eddie could hear how Richie was purring the loudest he'd heard him, especially since Eddie's head was damn near in his mouth from the kiss Richie was giving him. But he didn't care, he was getting shown love and affection by Richie and that was really all that mattered.

"I love you so fucking much..." Richie says softly, finally pulling away, still purring louder than a chainsaw, and he looks down at Eddie, feeling so damn lucky.

Eddie looks up at Richie again in surprise, not thinking he'd ever live long enough to hear those words from someone, then he softly says "...I love you too..." Smiling at Richie's loud purring. God, he loves Richie so much.

Richie smiles softly, and he leans his head back down to nuzzle Eddie, closing his eyes and planting a few more kisses on his chest as well. "So... are we a thing now?" He asks, pulling away a little so he could look at Eddie properly.

"...do you want to be a thing? Because I want to... but I'm just me..." Eddie says softly and quietly, looking up at Richie who was looking down at him with curious but also serious eyes, winch kinda intimidated Eddie, especially at the size that he was at the moment.

"Hell yeah I want to." Richie says, smiling softly. "Can-can I kiss you again? But, like, normal size this time?" He asks nervously, actually wanting to kiss Eddie on the lips for once.

"...yes..." Eddie says softly but also excitedly, because he was about to get a full on mouth to mouth kiss from Richie. This was practically the best day of Eddie's life right now, and could barely contain his happiness.

Richie chuckles at Eddie's excitement and begins focusing on Eddie's size, getting him back to normal relatively quickly, ending up with him sitting on his lap. Now staring up, he reaches his hand up, gently grabbing the back of Eddie's neck, and pulling him down for a kiss.

Eddie kisses Richie back when gets pulled into the kiss, because he really loves him and he was damn sure going to show it, so he continues kissing Richie until he finally breaks the kiss.

"Holy Shit..." Richie breathes out, and he looks up at Eddie in awe, he just couldn't figure out how he got so lucky. "I- can I call you my boyfriend now? Is that a thing I'm allowed to do now?" He asks, somewhat jokingly, but he did want to know if he was allowed to open with their relationship, or if Eddie wanted to lay low with it. He really didn't mind though, since whatever Eddie wanted to do was fine with him.

"...of course you big dummy!..." Eddie says softly, looking up at Richie's adorable face, chuckling as he did, hell yeah Eddie wanted to be called Richie's boyfriend! That would be perfect. He could barely believe it though. Because, as of now he was officially The Criminal Eater's boyfriend, and that was fucking awesome.

Richie chuckles at Eddie's eagerness, and he softly kisses him on the jaw. "How did we get here so fast?" He asks, referring to how they went from being complete strangers to lovers within a week.

"...I don't know....I guess.... maybe cause you're such a lovable dork...." Eddie says happily, still giggling at Richie's adorableness, but also wondering the same thing Richie was, but Eddie just guesses that Richie just has adorable/awesome courting skills, and it worked, because Eddie was now his boyfriend.

"Hey!" Richie exclaims, smiling, but acting offended at Eddie calling him a dork, and he playfully points a finger at him. "Keep that up and I might just eat you again." He threatens jokingly, poking Eddie's forehead.

Eddie swats at Richie's finger that poked his forehead, saying sarcastically and jokingly "...oh no Mr. Criminal Eater...you wouldn't dare eat me...I'm your boyfriend..." Laughing as soon as he got the sentence out of his mouth, surprisingly holding his phobia down very well, so much that the idea of Richie eating him only scared him a little bit.

"Try me, Eddie spaghetti." Richie jokes, pulling Eddie down on top of him again for another kiss on the mouth, and he gently pecks Eddie's forehead as well.

".... alright then....loveable dork..." Eddie says jokingly, still chuckling, smiling as Richie kisses him on his mouth and his forehead, making him feel all happy and giggly again, so he pulls out his most powerful tactic against The Criminal Eater and boops Richie's nose.

Richie bursts out into a fit of laughter at the sudden nose boop, and he suddenly flips them around on the couch so he has Eddie pinned underneath him. "You wanna call me a dork, huh?" He says, sticking his tongue on Eddie's face with a huge grin on his face, and he starts licking him.

"...noooooo....you dork!!..." Eddie says, starting to laugh uncontrolably as Richie was licking him, grinning down at Eddie widely. Showing off all of his teeth including his fangs. Winch kind of spikes up Eddie's phobia, but not too much to where he was scared of Richie like he was about two days ago. So Eddie keeps laughing and squirming as Richie continues licking him, Eddie calling him a dork in between laughs.

"I'm not a dork!" Richie exclaims with a slight pout, but he grins again, and continues licking Eddie all over his face, before finally stopping so Eddie could breathe. He lays down on top of him, careful not to crush him, and he buries his face into Eddie's neck, nuzzling him.

"....but you are a dork..... an adorable one..." Eddie says softly, chuckling at how Richie just kind of gently flopped down on top of him, and was nuzzling him like he was doing yesterday before he ate Eddie. And Richie was still just as cute and cuddly too, winch was amazing now that he was Eddie's boyfriend and was still the fierce and fearful Criminal Eater, that still kinda baffled Eddie, especially since he was a cop.

"And you're a tiny little gremlin." Richie retorts, poking Eddie's forehead, and gently kissing the side of Eddie's neck that his face was pressed into.

"...am not!..." Eddie exclaims faking annoyance, again swatting away Richie's finger that was poking his forehead, giggling at the kiss Richie planted on his neck, hearing and feeling as Richie was still purring heavily. This time Eddie reaches up and boops Richie's cheek, curious to see his reaction to that.

Richie chuckles at Eddie poking his cheek, and he turns his head, licking Eddie's hand in an attempt to gross him out, and he laughs before shoving his face back into Eddie's neck, blowing a raspberry into his neck.

Eddie laughs when Richie licks his hand and then blows a raspberry into his neck, it just adds to Richie's adorableness and dorkiness, so Eddie tells him ".... you're an adorable dork!..." And boops Richie's cheek again, smirky happily whilst doing so.

"I am not!!" Richie exclaims, pouting, and he buries his face into Eddie's chest, blushing a little. If anything, Eddie was the adorable dork, not him!

"....are too!!!..... you're a big goofy adorable dork!!!...." Eddie exclaims, poking Richie's cheek in between every word, especially since Richie was acting like he was pouting, because now it was Eddie's turn to be an annoying little shit now that he was out of Richie's belly and back, he also wanted to be annoying because he loved him and felt comfortable showing his sense of humor around him.

"...dammit, where's my uno reverse card...." Richie mumbles into Eddie's chest, swatting Eddie's hand away while chuckling, before grabbing his wrist on the last poke and once again licking his hand.

"....Ha! you're hand lickery no longer affects me!..." Eddie exclaims chuckling again, surprisingly not flinching or screaming, even though his phobia was starting to rear its ugly head more and more every time Richie licked his hand or even showed his teeth, but Eddie was trying his best to control it, and he was doing pretty well.

Richie cackles at that, and he finally stops licking Eddie's hand, flopping back down on top of his boyfriend, and cuddling into him, still purring loudly.

Eddie was surprised that Richie didn't want to eat him again with the way he was not showing any squeamishness to his licking, but he was also kinda glad too. Though Eddie did squeak when Richie flopped back down on him and started cuddling into him, still purring like a chainsaw, but then Eddie smiles happily and ran his hand through Richie's thick brown hair like you would if you were to pet a dog or a cat, hoping Richie didn't mind it.

Richie laughs at Eddie's small squeak, and he continues purring, pressing his head up into Eddie's hand once he started petting him though, since it'd been a long time since someone did that. Damn, he really was touch starved, wasn't he? He lightly chuckles at the thought, knowing he'd be getting a lot more affection now that he was with Eddie.

Eddie continues petting Richie's hair when he presses his hand further into Eddie's hand, continuing to purr, showing that he liked the affection that Eddie was giving him. Eddie heard him chuckle but paid no mind to it, because he was thinking about how ironic it was that he was now The Criminal Eater's boyfriend and that he has a phobia of being eaten, then he thought about how Richie was helping him get over his phobia by being himself and gently gobbling Eddie up whole. Eddie was actually fairly happy about it because he loved Richie and everything he does, even his human flesh eating.

Richie noticed the distant look in Eddie's eyes, and he could tell he was thinking. "Hey, whatcha thinkin' about?" He asks, booping Eddie's nose lightly.


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie cuddle then go on a case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All warnings of chapters before apply

"... About the irony of my phobia of getting eaten and the fact that I'm dating someone who eats people..." Eddie says honestly chuckling a little bit, while playfully swatting at Richie's finger that was booping his nose, before booping Richie's nose too, smiling happily when he did, because he really loves Richie's goofy playfulness.

"...it is kinda ironic, isn't it..." Richie says, blowing a raspberry into Eddie's neck out of retaliation for the nose boop, and he then licks a wet stripe up the side of Eddie's neck.

".... yeah...." Eddie says still chuckling, then he screams a little when Richie licks the stripe up his neck, partly because Eddie didn't expect it but also partly because it caused his phobia to kick in more, he then looks down at Richie to see what his reaction to him screaming was.

Richie pulls away at Eddie's sudden scream, checking to see if he'd hurt him, but once realizing he'd only startled Eddie, he relaxes, going back to purring and cuddling into his little detective.

Eddie chuckles a little at Richie's concern for him after he screamed, he then chuckles more when Richie goes back to cuddling up to him and purring louder than he was before, he was glad he had Richie, especially with how much of a cuddler he was. But Eddie loved everything about him. But it was funny though, because Richie was the vicious and cruel Criminal Eater to most that got this close in proximity to him, but to Eddie he was just a big ol' softie.

Richie then looks up at Eddie again, moving forward to kiss Eddie on the lips again, purring into the kiss as well, and he gently cups the side of Eddie's face with a hand.

Eddie kisses Richie back, feeling as Richie was still purring through the whole kiss. Then when they part away, Eddie looks up to Richie, only to see that goofy lovestruck grin and hears the engine purring that he's now familiar with. He smiles happily at it, loving the sheer sight, sound, and person in front of him.

"Fuck, I love you so much... it feels so good to say that to someone..." Richie says, trailing a few kisses down the side of Eddie's jaw, and slowly moving down his neck as well, before finally pulling away and cuddling up on top of Eddie again.

Eddie lets out a small laugh as Richie does this, smiling again when Richie cuddles up on top of him again, going back to the loudest purring. Eddie loved how cuddly and soft Richie was, and that counted for both on the outside and the inside.

"So... any more cases we have to do, or can we just cuddle for the rest of the day?" Richie asks, staring up at Eddie with a goofy grin.

".... sadly yes and it's another gang...." Eddie says disappointedly, not really wanting to stop cuddling and go on the case, especially after seeing Richie's goofy grin, but Eddie knew he had to or he'd probably be fired, if he wasn't already. He hopes Richie isn't too disappointed.

"...how many?" Richie asks, wanting to know if he'd end up with a stomach ache or not, and even if he did, the meal would definitely be worth it.

"...uh I think only three..but there may be four..." Eddie says sighing, not really wanting to deal with criminals tonight, and he was kinda wishing he was in Richie's belly again, but he knew that Richie needed to eat fresh dead human flesh, so he could go on living, and also Eddie's phobia was flared almost all the way up too. So Eddie would just have to tough it out, face the criminals and let Richie rip them apart then devour their corpses.

Richie sighs, knowing he would definitely be having stomach trouble tonight, but he was pretty hungry right now, so he could probably deal with it. "Alright, you wanna get ready to go?" He asks.

"... yeah I guess..." Eddie says softly, still kinda not wanting to do it but also knowing that Richie needed it, so he didn't put up any fuss, and Eddie definitely didn't let Richie know that he wanted to be snuggling up down in his belly. Because that would just be wrong and taking advantage of Richie's eating habits, but also he was still fairly frightened of getting eaten, so yea no. With that thought over he asks Richie "... so... you ready?..."

"Yep, let's go spaghetti man!" Richie exclaims excitedly, actually being pretty hungry, and his stomach gurgles loudly if only to emphasize that. He climbs off of Eddie, stretching before offering his hand to help him up off the couch.

Eddie is glad Richie was excited about eating the criminals and didn't sense his internal struggle over going on the case. So he takes Richie's hand and allows him to help him up of the couch, chuckling at how energetic and happy Richie was over his soon to be criminal meals.

Richie walks out the door with an extra bounce in his step, still holding Eddie's hand since he didn't exactly want to let go, and he leads him to his car, only letting go so he could climb in the driver's side.

Eddie chuckles as he climbs into the passenger seat of the car, then looks over at Richie, who was now bouncing excitedly in his car's seat and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Eddie smiles, chuckles and then asks Richie ".... you really want to eat these guys... don't you?..."

"Are you kidding? I'm starving..." Richie says, staring at the car, knowing once again that Eddie would have to direct him, but he didn't really care, he just wanted to get something to eat. Well, someone.

"... great!.... okay...so where we have to go tonight is actually a little bit out of Derry... it's a small cabin right by the old quarry..." Eddie informs Richie, already knowing that he would need to get to their destination, this time Eddie really, really, really didn't want to get held at gunpoint, beat up, or killed. Though he really doubts Richie would let that happen again.

Richie nods, pulling out of the driveway, and following Eddie's directions, his stomach gurgling loudly the entire drive there. When they finally pull up to the house though, Richie turns to Eddie, holding the keys to his car out to him. "Do you wanna just lock yourself in the car this time? You don't have to go in with me if you don't want to, and I'd rather you stay somewhere safe..." He says, not wanting a repeat of last time.

"...I guess so... but doesn't that just make me a coward..." Eddie says quietly, not really wanting to be alone in Richie's car when he has no idea where the criminals that Richie's going to eat are, he supposes Richie was right.

"No, it wouldn't, but, I mean, you can come in with me if you want, but you gotta stick really close..." Richie says softly, really not wanting Eddie to get hurt again.

"... o-okay..." Eddie says softly, still scared, not wanting to get hurt by another criminal, but he gets out of the car anyway. After Eddie gets out of the car he quickly goes over to Richie and grabs his hand, hoping he didn't mind Eddie holding it while they find the criminals.

Richie smiles, and gently squeezes Eddie's hand, before slowly walking up to the house, now looking around for any sign of the criminals.

Eddie was getting nervous the more they looked around, still being scared that something bad was going to happen to him. But he kept reminding himself that Richie was right there, literally holding his hand, so nothing bad was going to happen, right?

Richie reaches the front door, and he pulls Eddie closer to his side, before slowly pushing the door open, hearing some noise that sounded like music, and he assumes there's a radio running somewhere in the building. He looks back to Eddie one more time, before slowly walking into the house, keeping Eddie close to him.

Eddie was glad that Richie pulled him closer to his body, so maybe he won't get hurt or kidnapped this time. Though Eddie couldn't stand the loud ass music they were playing, but that wasn't the focus right now. The focus was finding these motherfuckers and wrecking their shit.

Richie looks into another doorway, seeing all four of the men in the room talking, somehow able to hear each other over the loud metal music playing, and he pushes Eddie back behind him, signaling for him to stay put, before rushing into the room. All four of the men jump up in surprise, and he grabs the first one closest to him, snapping his neck with his teeth, and ripping his throat out as the others screamed in horror.

Eddie stays where he is, listening to the screaming in the room in front of him, hearing as Richie ripped through flesh and crunches on bones, the sounds still making him cringe. But Eddie could handle it, because now he knew the criminals in this case wouldn't get a chance to hurt him, as they were currently becoming Richie's dinner.

Richie eats the first man pretty quickly, and he then lunges at the second one, laughing maniacally as they all collectively screamed, one of the screams being cut off with a ghastly choking sound before falling silent, Richie having torn his throat out as well.

Eddie was still sitting where Richie told him to stay, listening to the carnage that was going on inside of the room, curiously wondering how many of the criminals in there were actually alive or being snacked on. But Eddie guesses that was for Richie to know and him to never find out.

Richie ends up having to slow down on the third one, even more so when he finally got to the fourth man, and when he finally finished he felt full up to his lungs, his stomach gurgling and groaning unhappily with too much food stuffed into it. It was pretty uncomfortable, but in a weird way it was also nice.

Eddie heard as the screaming and crunching finally stopped, so he assumed that Richie was done making a meal out of all of the criminals in the room. But Eddie still stayed put and waited for Richie to come out.


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie cuddle some more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All warnings as chapters before

Chapter 42  
Richie eventually stumbles back out; his hands, arms, neck, and mouth covered in a fresh coat of blood, and his middle was pushing out much more than normal, his stomach gurgling unbelievably loud. "...fuck... this has gotta be the biggest meal I've had in months..." He huffs, rubbing his full belly in an attempt to soothe it, and he visibly cringes when it rumbles again.

Eddie looks up at Richie, his eyes widening at his bloody and round gutted appearance, but hears Richie's stomach rumble loudly and sees him cringe so he gets back up from the floor and grabs Richie's hand like he did earlier.

Richie almost pulls his hand away, not wanting to get Eddie's hand all bloody, but he relaxes and let's Eddie hold it anyway, seeing that he didn't appear to be bothered by the blood covering his hands. He keeps his other hand on his belly though, gently rubbing at it while it groaned unhappily from the strain of eating so much. "This is gonna hurt later, but it's so fucking worth it..." He says, stumbling a little as they walked back to his car.

"....is it?..." Eddie asks curiously. Not really knowing why Richie would gorge himself if it was going to hurt him later, but not judging him either. Because it was Richie's choice to eat like that and Eddie wasn't going to stop him

"Hell yeah... it's uncomfortable but so fucking satisfying... and I usually get a lot warmer when I'm digesting a lot too, so there's that... but considering how much I just ate, I'm probably gonna be sweating to death later..." Richie says, explaining how his body seemed to work, mainly just because he knew Eddie was going to be curious about it. He continues walking slowly as to not upset his stomach, but when he does finally reach his car, he climbs in and sighs in relief at being able to sit down, since it was kinda uncomfortable to have that much weight pulling on his spine. He was 40 for fucks sake. 

"....yea...I guess that makes sense..." Eddie says softly, climbing into the passenger side, looking over to Richie seeing how miserable he looked, but didn't say anything about it. Because Eddie would damned before he made Richie feel bad for his eating habits or how much he ate during his feralness.

Richie drove back home in silence after that, the only noise coming from him being his stomach gurgling and the occasional uncomfortable huff or sigh. When they finally got back, Richie eagerly got out of the car, wanting to go and sleep off his meal, but he immediately had to slow down when his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the sudden action.

Eddie gets out of the car after Richie staying a little bit behind him, not knowing if Richie wanted Eddie to be close to him with how uncomfortable his gut was making him while it was that full, and also because of how silent Richie was during their drive back. So Eddie doesn't touch him until he has permission to do so, not wanting to upset him.

Richie heads straight to the bathroom as soon as he gets inside, wanting to wash the blood off, and he tosses his bloody T-shirt into the bathtub. Walking back into the living room, he doesn't bother going to his room to get another shirt on, since that would require moving more and putting more strain on his stomach, so instead he just sits down on the couch shirtless, still huffing uncomfortably and looking at his overly full gut.

Eddie went and sat in the kitchen after he got in the apartment, still distancing himself from Richie, because he didn't know if Richie wanted him to be around him giving him attention or not with how he was feeling at the moment. So he just stays in there until he is told otherwise.

The three criminals that were still in the jar began screaming at Eddie's sudden appearance, and Richie laughed from the other room, poking his head in to see what all the ruckus was about, still holding his stomach. "What, ya gonna try eating one of 'em?" He asks Eddie jokingly, mainly saying it just to scare the men more.

"...no..." Eddie says softly, still not knowing if it was okay to be around Richie yet, like he knew that he was his boyfriend, but they were still learning about each other, and this is one of those things that Eddie wasn't sure about, and hated being distant from Richie, but he still didn't know if Richie wanted Eddie to be all cuddly with his current situation.

"...hey, c'mon..." Richie says softly, finally walking all the way into the kitchen, still keeping a hand on his bare stomach so as to not jostle it around too much. "I wanna snuggle..." He whines, walking up behind Eddie's chair, and draping himself over his back, careful not to squeeze his belly too much though.

"....you..do?.....I thought you might not want me to be around you... because your...ya know.." Eddie says softly, finishing off his sentence by pointing at Richie's rounded gut, feeling as Richie was draped over his back, already nuzzling into his hair. Eddie really thought that he just wanted to sleep this meal off alone with the way he was so quiet in the car.

"Mhm.... I always wanna snuggle with you..." Richie admits, chuckling a little, before suddenly cringing at his stomach letting out a low-pitched groan, but he does laugh a little when the criminals in the jar start screaming again.

".... really?..." Eddie asks curiously, hearing as Richie chuckles, then Eddie feels as he cringes from the noises his gut was emitting, hearing as he starts laughing again at the three jarred criminals terror of the stomach rumbling, which Eddie had to admit was pretty funny.

"C'mooooonnnnnnn, I wanna cudlllleeeee..." Richie whines, nuzzling his face into Eddie's hair once more, before gently grabbing him by the wrist to lead him out of the kitchen, his other hand still laying over his exposed belly.

"... okay... okay... I'll cuddle you.... you big dork..." Eddie says softly, chuckling as he allows Richie to grab his wrist and lead him to wherever is his apartment that he wanted to cuddle Eddie at. Eddie was happy that Richie still wanted to cuddle him, even after eating that much and having an upset stomach.

Richie leads Eddie to his bedroom, careful lying down on the bed instead of his usual ungraceful flop, as he didn't want to upset his stomach further, even though it gurgled and groaned unhappily from the action anyway. "Oof..." He huffs, releasing Eddie's wrist to rub at his stomach, wincing when he felt it rumble underneath his hands.

Eddie lightly lays on the bed beside Richie, so he doesn't upset his belly further than it already was. Eddie looks up at Richie, only to see him giving that all too familiar goofy grin that Eddie loves to see on his face, which causes him to smile, then chuckle a little bit, because even though Richie didn't feel good, he wasn't going to let that get in the way his cuddle time with Eddie.

Richie scoots over closer to Eddie, snuggling into his side, hissing in pain when the action squeezes his belly a little, but he was close to Eddie, so it didn't matter to him.

Eddie cringes when Richie hisses in pain, not wanting Richie to hurt himself just because he wanted to cuddle Eddie, but as soon as Richie was closer to him, Eddie snuggles up to him, looking up seeing that Richie still had his goofy lovestruck grin plastered on his face, that cause Eddie to smile brightly knowing that he could bring that much joy to his new boyfriend.

Richie smiles at Eddie softly, but he flinches at his stomach acting up still, and he continues gently rubbing and kneading at his middle, trying to sooth it, but it didn't really seem to help. He was pretty warm now, digestion aiding in that, and Eddie's skin was much cooler in comparison, so he snuggles up to him, still looking at him lovingly.

Eddie notices how warm Richie is, but he was warned about it. So he just snuggles into the warmth of Richie's body, looking up at him again, still happily smiling at the loving grin he was receiving from Richie, loving how much of a big softie he was, especially since he was only like that towards him. Eddie still wonders how he managed to have The Criminal Eater fall in love with him, since Eddie was just Eddie, a small town detective/cop with nothing really special about him.

Richie curls around Eddie more, but huffs in annoyance when his stomach groans again, the pain starting to get progressively worse. "Oowwww... why did I do this??" He whines, squeezing his eyes shut and wincing as another small jolt of pain racked his gut.

"...well...you were hungry..." Eddie says softly, more warm now that Richie curled almost completely around him, but he could still see that Richie was in pain from the amount of contents in his belly. So Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie the best he could, hugging him and snuggling into him, hoping that it made Richie feel better.

Richie smiles softly at Eddie snuggling into him, and then he realizes just how nice and cool Eddie's hands felt on his skin, and he starts purring, finding the temperature difference soothing and relaxing, even though his stomach still hurt pretty bad.

Eddie hears as Richie starts purring loudly. So he stays snuggled into him like he was, Eddie was glad that the attention and affection was making Richie happy while his belly didn't feel good. Though Eddie did sigh, because he was getting sleepy, and he knew tomorrow when he woke up he would need to go back to the department and gather some more cases, then explain where the ones he had were, all while keeping Richie anonymous and still only labeled as The Criminal Eater.

Richie continues huffing in pain and annoyance, and he nuzzles his face into Eddie's shoulder. "Uh... Eddie...? Can... could you, uh... can you rub my belly for me...?" He asks nervously, not wanting to make Eddie uncomfortable, but he knew Eddie's colder hands on his stomach might help a little and sooth the pain, so he asked anyway.

"...uh...sure..." Eddie replies softly, starting to gently rub Richie's belly, smiling as he feels Richie nuzzling into his shoulder, said man still almost completely curled up around him. But Eddie was still a little bummed out about tomorrow, and all of the stuff he has to instead of snuggling or being in Richie's belly, winch Eddie was still too cowardly to ask for it hint to Richie that he still wants to go in there an work on getting over his phobia, but that was another talk for another day.

Eddie hears as Richie's purring gets louder, and feels as Richie nuzzles further into his shoulder, causing Eddie to get warmer, winch makes him start to drift off to sleep faster, he hopes Richie didn't mind him going to sleep first.

Richie notices Eddie's breathing starts to slow, and he smiles softly, knowing Eddie was falling asleep, so he pulls him closer to his chest more, purring loudly all the while.

Richie watches Eddie fall asleep in his arms, and he kisses Eddie's forehead lightly, before nuzzling Eddie's hair again and starting to fall asleep himself.


End file.
